In the Name of Science
by PanicAtTheBombShelter
Summary: So, the humans and monsters never went to war. They had a peace treaty, and even though it's been active for some time, there's a lot of pressure on human-monster relationships. That doesn't matter to Frisk though, she just wants to learn about time and space, and how she can put what she knows to use. She does make friends though, some easier than others... [OlderFemFrisk]
1. In the Name of Science

**So this idea actually came to me in the middle of the night. I had to get it down, and I wanted this to be a oneshot, but as I was writing this my brain decided that details were super important. Basically I have no idea how long this is going to be, but I do want to put out long chapters since I'm kinda embarrassed of the chapter lengths my other story has.**

 **This is set in upperworld. The premise for this is essentially, what would happen if the war didn't break out. What if the humans and monsters signed a peace treaty to not go to war, and so they never went under ground. Frisk lived her regular life not falling down Mt. Ebot. She's actually a pretty smart cookie, she just doesn't study well. And since, well, she has a good handle on resets and the whole time thing (going back in it and redoing parts of it) I kinda made her to be a scientist like Sans and Alphys are.**

 **Frisk is 19 and Female**

 **Alphys is the same nervous wreck as always but a little more fierce**

 **Sans is...well...maybe a little out of character? He's going to tie back into how he normally is, but I ended writing him a little edgy on accident...BUT THERE'S A REASON!**

 **So yeah, I hope I don't stir the pot too much and overcook the spaghetti on accident. Welcome to this story and enjoy the ride!**

 **Disclaimer: All characters belong to Toby Fox, I just own the story idea.**

There was a lull in the night air as a chilled puff streamed from her lips. A mist had rolled over the railway stop as the last twinkles of sunlight fell over the distant hills just on the other sides of the marshes. A deep blue filled the sky as reds and purples slowly stirred in with the dusk. Her fingers burrowed in deeper into her blue-and-magenta-striped sweater, the cold from her digits blocking any heat to assist her from the chill.

She had moved to Mt. Ebot's small city, New Homeland, a few weeks ago in order to pursue her degree in Temporal Science at the University of N.H.M.E.. She shivered as she eyed the digital arrival board - her train was a couple minutes out still. She was on her way there to take a night course - it was one that was only offered at night. Thank god that her job allowed her to stay at home, otherwise she would have been unable to take this course, one that she needed for her degree.

The rumble of trains caught her attention, as she looked up at the oncoming vehicle. Making sure she was clear of the yellow strip, the train rolled quickly in front of her, but came to a sudden stop. There was a design on the side of it that looked like some kids with too much time and a few extra cans of spray paint had fun. It was a beautiful woman with bright green eyes and large wings, and where her smile was there were words layered over top. She smiled to herself at the abstract painting that humans wouldn't be able to create, and hopped on board once the doors allowed her passage.

It was quiet inside the train, with there only being a few occupants. She mentally shrugged as she took a seat close to the entryway. Pulling off her backpack and placing it next to her, she rummaged through the inside and pulled out a rather thick textbook. A jostle of the train had it slip from her fingers and with a resounding THUD was a hair from flattening her toes. She over reacted, squeaking as she brought her feet up into her seat in a frantic fashion. A hissing chuckle came from across the way, and she looked up. A young woman with six arms, five eyes, and black hair pulled into pigtails put up by hair ties with bubbles for show, giggled into her hand as all eyes were on the human in the oversized sweater.

She blinked at the spider lady across from her, and then waved with an embarrassed smile on her face. The spider lady, blinking at a thought, smiled and waved, revealing two sets of fangs and neon green painted lips. They did contrast well with the girls purple skin. "Sorry, I didn't mean to laugh." The spider lady hissed amused. "I just hardly see humans on this route, and it's always so funny to see them flail around with their four limbs. It's quite amusing to see how those with lesser limbs act." She said as she leaned forward, propping her head on four of her hands, all elbows digging into her thighs. The other two folded over her lap, and her eyes lidded predatorily. Her shirt hung off her shoulders as an image of a cute narwal was printed on the front, and it cut off right above where one would think a belly button would be. Two black stripes sat on her shoulders - an undershirt that went down to her hips, and blended into black leggings that had a pair of bright rainbow leg warmers that were extremely fluffy. Her shoes were very simple - a pair of black and purple heels. One of her arms had an arm warmer the same type that was on her legs, and two of them had bracelets of all types. About twenty she could see.

The last arm she could see had a black tattoo that was in the shape of a dragon, and it seemed to shift as a corner scurried along to fill in a spot that looked out of place. This made her stiffen, much to the spider girl's amusement. Grinning a wicked grin she stared the human in the eye. "Arachnophobic?" She purred, causing the girl across from her to shake her head with wide eyes. The spider girl chuckled, and then looked up as the train slowed. With a sweet smile she stood and draped her large purse over her shoulder. Holding her hand out she winked at the human girl.

"Name's Muffet. I'd love to stay and chat but this is my stop."

The human girl blinked at the hand as the train stopped and the doors chirped as they opened. She took her hand and shook it. "Frisk." She said, smiling kindly at Muffet.

Biting her lower lip slightly she grinned widely and slipped Frisk a card with one of her other hands. Patting the humans head as she passed, she stepped out and away the train went. Frisk looked out the window, after the spider girl that disappeared in the blink of an eye. As with life.

She looked down at the card that rested in her lap, and stared at the words.

 _Miss Muffets Tuffet_

 _Baked Sweets and Teas_

Huh. It was close to her house. Frisk smiled to herself at the thought. At least she made a new friend, something that was a rarity for her.

With a quick shrug she slipped the card into her pants pocket, picked up her tomb of a school book, and read the chapter of quantum physics until her stop arrived.

…

Monsters crowded the hallway of N.H.M.E.U., and yet with the crowd being as thick as it was with monsters of all kinds, eyes shot her her like bullets. They shredded through her self confidence with accurate precision. Frisk gripped the straps of her backpack, and stared straight forward as she made her way through the crowd.

Head straight, chin up, eyes forward, shoulders back. These are the things of self confidence. She repeated this as she glided through the halls. It was...rare for humans to participate in Monster Schools, since there was still a bit of a strain between Monster-Human relationships. But overall Frisk found Monsters to be more interesting to be around, more relaxing versus their Human counterparts. She huffed her bangs out of her face at that thought.

Not like she could say much. After all, she was human…

Shaking her head slightly she pulled a folded paper out of her pocket, eyed the room number, and stopped. She stared at the numbers. To high...they got smaller this way...her feet led her down the walkway, making sure to flow around the creatures around her as she made it to the science department. Verifying the number on the door to the number on the paper she slipped in.

A lone Monster was inside the classroom towards the back; a yellow reptile who was giggling and pushing up her large round glasses as she mumbled under her breath what she saw on her phone. Checking the clock Frisk cursed herself internally. She was forty-five minutes early. The night was still bright enough that you could make out the silhouette of Mt. Ebot. Frisk shook her head as she went to a seat and sat, only a couple seats away from the Monster who was clearly engrossed in her small screen.

She seemed shaken out of her glee as she looked up at the seat that Frisk took. "Y-your e-e-early S-" Her lips clamped shut as her eyes widened in surprise at the human girl. A high pitch breath left the female lizard as she examined Frisk. "Oooooo-" her breath made a voweled groan, and she clamped her mouth shut again. She glanced from her screen to Frisk, back to the screen, then finally stopping on Frisk, her body not moving. Maybe Frisk's vision was based on movement?

Quickly turning off the device she stowed it away into her brown jacket. Frisk's heart twinged in guilt. Poor lady didn't have to turn off her device..

The reptile woman pushed up her glasses and turned to stare straight forward, her hands clasped tightly as she leaned on her arms. Her lips were tight as they trembled, sweat rolling down her forehead. Red stained her cheeks, and she looked like she was about to fall over from a fainting spell.

Frisk panicked. "Uh, I-I can move. I didn't mean to…" Frisk stared at the woman before her jerk her head to Frisk in a second. It was like two images with how quick it was. Her eyes were screaming at Frisk to not even dare move as a creaking groan sounded from her. She then pulled her jacket closer as she went back to her previous position, with the addition of shaking slightly. Frisk's heart crawled into her throat.

Glancing over the reptilian woman, she took note of her clothes. A brown jacket was pulled around her; it was close to resembling a duster, but had a more streamlined look to it. Her boots were the same color brown, and were pretty stylish for what they were. Then, she noticed the dress that this woman was wearing. It was made from a pattern. A certain..Mew Mew: Kissy Cutie pattern.

Frisk gasped deeply, causing the poor terror-stricken woman next to her to nearly fall out of her chair. "W-W-WHAT?" She nearly screamed, staring at Frisk disheveled as she gripped the table for support.

Frisk gawked at the fabric as she held her hands to her cheeks. "I. Love. That. Show." She said, a twinkle in her eyes.

The reptile blinked, trying to process. "U-uh?"

Frisk gripped the reptile's shoulders, causing her to flinch, and stare at the determination Frisk held in her expression. "That show! It's amazing!" She stared at Frisk, then looked down at her dress, and blushed heavily, covering her face and trying to avoid the humans stare.

"I-I-uh-" She then watched as Frisk went on an all out tangent, which the reptile lady soon joined in on.

They laughed and rambled as Monsters slowly filtered into the room. After a collective sigh between the two, Frisk held out her hand. With a bright smile she stated, "Frisk. What's yours?"

The reptile blushed and took the humans hand. "A-alphys." She said meekly. They resumed their chatting when Alphys stopped. Frisk watched in concern as Alphys seemed to pale from a warm yellow to a soft pastel yellow.

"Alphys?" She asked, waving a hand in front of her friends face.

Frisk stiffened, as she felt stares on her. A presence stopped behind her. She could feel her fears crawling up her back. A heaviness fell over her as the world drowned out around her. She felt so cold, as her heart clenched as her breathing hitched. Every bad thing that she had ever done. Every scream, every kick, every yell that was done in ill will towards another living creature - no matter how little they were and how few there were - stuck into her back like knives. She gripped her jacket where her heart was, as the darkness let up after what seemed like years.

She gasped for air and nearly fell off the chair, and she was staring into the eyes of Alphys. Sturdy clawed hands were on her arms, holding her to make sure she didn't fall off and hurt herself. "Frisk?" Alphys asked in a hushed tone. Frisk coughed as she gripped her throat. It was on fire and yet frozen. Alphys looked over her shoulder with a feeble attempt at a glare, at the person directly behind her. "Sans! What's y-your problem?!" Alphys snapped, her voice shaking from anger and fear.

"Eh, what can I say? Ain't nobody told me about the human here. Figured, hey, someone's gotta throw me a _bone_." A flat deep tone spoke behind Frisk in a lazy way, causing her to turn to look. Alphys was still gripping her for support. The sight in front of her almost made her jump and holler in laughter.

The goofiest look was on this creature's face. A plastered smile matched his lazy stare. She had been so freaked out that it was one of those more volatile monsters - especially with how she almost had a heart attack from fear - and she half expected it to rip her out of her seat and toss her across the room towards the back. But this guy, he looked like he wouldn't hurt a fly. Though, the fact that he was a walking skeleton did cause her panic. He wore a faded blue hoodie, with fur lining. He seemed to have a bit of pudge to him though, since it puffed out around where a belly would be. A pair of baggy grey pants hung off his legs - not jogging pants, they were made out of jean material. A pair of converse finished his outfit. She met his gaze, a pair of white dots stared at her. He seemed to raise a brow in question. "Like what you see?" He said flatly, causing Frisk to flush brightly from embarrassment.

Then suddenly, seemingly from nowhere, she snorted loudly and held her mouth with her hand, laughing into it as her whole face went a shade redder. Sans blinked at her, confused and a bit insulted, then looked over himself and then back at her, ready to bite her head off when she smiled at him. "S-sorr-rryyyyy." She said through chuckles and giggles and snorts. She folded both her hands over her face and leaned into them. "I-I just put your joke to how you look, and I-I-" she snorted and laughed, her form shaking. Everyone in the room stared at her like she had a second head, though Sans smirk grew a fraction. She pulled her hands down and beamed at him. "I guess you could say I found it-" she snorted, "- _humerus_." The whole room groaned at the bad joke. Sans grinned into his clenched hand, trying not to laugh.

She stood quickly, almost stumbling over herself, and held her hand out to him. Frisk was about an inch shorter than the skeleton in front of her, so it wasn't difficult to keep eye(socket) contact. "Frisk." She stated boldly, causing him to look over her, then stare at her hand in disdain.

"Cute." He stated, unamused.

Blue surrounded Frisk and her stuff as a tingle burrowed into her. She rose into the air, and all Frisk could do was stare at the area around them. All the monsters that were in this classroom had found their seats, and they were all staring at her. "Sans!" she could hear Alphys snap at the skeleton boy. He shrugged the reptile off as he walked Frisk to the back of the room. "P-put her d-down! She-she didn't k-know that w-w-was your seat! S-she's a g-good hu-" She clamped shut at one look from Sans. With a hum and a pop, Frisk and her possessions were at the back of the room, with Sans hovering over her. Frisk stared up at him innocently, causing him to scoff.

Planting a hand on the table, Sans stared her in the eyes, driving his point home. "Look, kid. Might be best you stay in the back." Frisk gave him a curious look. He groaned internally. What was a human even doing in a Monster-level physics class anyways? He leaned forward and whispered into her ear huskily. "These folks will eat a kid like you alive, so might be best for you to run back home before the big. Bad. Wolf comes for you." He grinned, baring his canines - they were sharp, and looked just like two big fangs. Like he could come and tear her throat out at any point if he found it fair.

Determination filled her as she smacked him on the face with the same heavy tomb from earlier, causing him to squawk from surprise. He glared at her, rubbing his whole face. "You-"

"No, you listen!" Frisk hissed in a hushed tone at Sans, who's fierce expression dropped from the outburst. She slammed the book down onto the table. "I didn't come all this way, move to a new town, and study by butt off," she pointed to her rear end, "to have someone like you," she pointed to Sans, who took a half step back, "tell me that I shouldn't even try!" She huffed, and walked up to him, causing him to edge back. "I know that Monsters don't like Humans very much, but gosh darn it if I'm not going to try!" her voice was beginning to raise from a hushed whisper, and the monsters in the room were eyeing the whole thing. Alphys was cheering the human on silently.

Frisk jabbed her finger against his sternum. "So you can take all your resentment and shove it. I'm smart enough to be here, and I would suggest swallowing your ego and get to know me before you go ahead and judge me for what I am instead of who I am." She finished through gritted teeth. Sans was staring down at her, a faint blue was on his cheeks, and he looked away as if trying to avoid her stare.

She sighed and closed her eyes, trying to calm herself down. The pat on his chest caught his attention, as the human stared up at him with annoyed eyes. "Now, we can either start over, or you can keep on being pissy." She held up her hand to him, and the air was heavy from the chatter around them. "So what's it going to be?"

Sans stared at the hand, then at Frisk, and then shrugged off her hand as he made his way back to his spot. Frisk sighed as she scratched her cheek. First impressions, she guessed. She'd like to make friends with the skeleton, but you can only do so much if you're swimming up stream.

Frisk groaned as she sat down, flopping in her chair as she leaned back, rubbing her face. She felt a stare burning into the side of her face, causing her to glance over and nearly have a heart attack. There was Alphys, with her head cradled in her hands, staring at her with admiration. Frisk looked from where she was, to where she is, and laughed. "Y-you're so c-cool Frisk." Alphys stated, her tail swaying gently.

There was a clearing of the throat as everyone halted their mutterings and gossip, as a tall skeleton draped in black stood in the front of the room. Six hands started to hover around him, then rose up in pairs as they started to communicate in sign language, a raspy voice laid over each of the words communicated.

"Welcome boys and girls to the first day of class. We will be going over what we will be learning in class in a bit, but first, fill out this consent form." Papers seemed to appear in front of everyone in a blink, and Alphys straightened herself in the seat. Frisk read over the paper; it basically stated that any theories and projects worked on in this class will not leave this class, by penalty of expulsion and/or death.

Without second thought she signed the dotted line and prayed she did not just sell her soul to the devil.

...

 **There we have it guys. Let me know what you think; R &R please and thank you!**


	2. Ran Out of Clothes Pins

**Hey guys, I don't know how I feel about this particular chapter. I have mixed feelings over it, mainly because one part is a little weird and kinda sudden, but another part I'm pretty okay with this because there's a lot of interaction between Sans and Frisk. This is kinda the B-Side to the first chapter. After this I'm going to develop the story along a bit.**

 **I wanted to say thank you to my three followers on this story. No reviews, but that's okay. At least some people like this story. *insert temmie face***

 **Also, this was written up in the middle of the night, so I apologize for any weird transgressions or character actions in this. It kinda ended up being an analysis / character study.**

 **Anyways, I do not own any characters, they all belong to Toby Fox.**

 **...**

The two hour lecture seemed to drag for the class. Frisk internally groaned as her hand cramped from gripping her pencil too hard and for writing for too long. It was hard to see, but thankfully the classroom had screens above the crowd, to show lectures and notes that needed to be taken for those in the far back. She eyed one of the larger monsters in front of her that blocked her sight. Glancing at Alphys from the corner of her eye, she noticed that her concentration was unbreakable and she was deep into her notebook. Frisk smiled at the studious reptile and admired her abilities. Frisks eyes wandered over to the blue-clad skeleton, who seemed to have kicked back on his chair and snoozed the whole lecture away. Thankfully there were two larger monsters in front of him that were nearly bursting out of their coats, otherwise she was sure that their teacher would have his head on a plate as an example. She rolled her eyes at the lazy skeleton.

Suddenly Gaster stopped his lecture, staring into space for a long moment. Everyone held their breaths as pencils stopped in their tracks, and then just like that he dismissed the class. Everyone gathered their belongings, and the slow process of filtering out began. Frisk rubbed her temples as she stuffed her oversized textbook and her already-quarter-filled notebook into her bag and accompanied Alphys out to the hallway. Her eyes scanned for the skeleton, but oddly enough he had been the first to pop out of the classroom, and she noticed the thought of him left a rather impressive ache in her forehead.

She felt this odd compulsion that, if she left the incident from before unchecked, one of them was going to have a bad time throughout the semester, and the sinking suspicion in her gut told her it wasn't going to be him. Her body felt like lead, and she hardly noticed Alphys excuse herself to go use the little monsters room.

Then, out of the blue, there he was, gripping a juice box and a bag of chisps...chisps? Whatever. He stared at her with amused white dots, and she stared back with unamused bags under her eyes. She then dropped her head into her hands as she mumbled something about her patience running thin for the night. A deep monotone chuckle met her ears, causing her to look up so fast that she pinched her neck, causing her to let out an 'eep' and tend to the sore muscle.

His grin was almost endearing enough to ignore the annoyance he held in his eyes. "So, kid, what's a human like you doing in a place like this?" He said nonchalantly, and if she was anyone else even as a passable flirt tactic. But no, she was a human, and that word seemed to sizzle like acid when it left his mouth.

Straightening up and rubbing her hair back as her hands left her face, her bangs pushing up and sitting there for a minute or so, left her honey-brown eyes exposed. Sans shifted and avoided her stare, causing her to quirk a brow. She shrugged it off instantly and leaned back on her hands, pulling out the heavy tomb she smacked him with earlier. She giggled at his flinch once the book was out, only to be met with an annoyed look.

"Studying." She looked at him wide eyed and innocent as she held up the book.

"That's not what I meant-"

"Well obviously, but Mr. Grumpy Blues over here seems to be the only one who has some sort of anger towards me." She gestured at him as she leaned back onto her elbow, ignoring the flatness of the ground. Sans was about to interject, but stopped when she held up her hand. "I know. You're going to say something like how monsters will eat a little human like me alive. But, and if you gotta trust me on something at all it's this, I get a lot from that from my own kind too."

Sans quirked his brow, his aggression towards her melting and being replaced by scientific curiosity. This was new in all of the three hours she knew the guy. She sighed and leaned forward, her elbows digging into her thighs as she watched him gesture for her to continue. She bit her lower lip, and then waved him closer. Instantly he was touching knees with her. His enthusiasm tugged at the back of her head as a red flag, but his childlike expression on his face wasn't anything you could say no to. Her lips thinned, and she leaned forward so that she could whisper and no one else could hear.

"Sans, I dunno why you personally have a grudge against humans, but I think I understand. I, uh.." She flushed in embarrassment as she held her arms. She was hanging her laundry out to this guy and she barely knew him. She must really be desperate for companionship…"heh...it's kinda stupid, but, uh, I have had my fair share of encounters with bad humans. They...heh…" She smiled bitterly, and a flash of concern was on Sans face. "They, uh, bullied this monster kid, you see. Timmy, this sweet yellow monster kid. He, uh, didn't have arms, you see, and was a reptile much like Alphys…" She rubbed the back of her neck. "So, crazy human I am, make them stop. I take the kicks and punches, and I'm assuring Timmy that it'll be fine all the while."

She sniffed and rubbed her face. No tears yet, thankfully. A sound between a laugh and a sob left her against her will, and instantly Sans is sitting next to her, an arm draped over Frisks shoulder. She smiles at him reassuringly, and elbows his ribs. She swallowed, then continued. "'Monster Lover, Monster Lover' they chant as they leave, and things became kinda fuzzy after that." She tucked a strand of hair that had fallen from behind her ear, and she stared at the ground. Her lips clamp shut, not wanting to become a sob story to him. She didn't need a friend out of pity, but she needed him to know.

Frisk turned to Sans and smiled brightly. "Timmy and I became inseparable after that. We had our fair share of adventures after that. We even ended up renting an apartment together when we got older." She laughed to herself, a tear falling from her face unknowing to her. "But, uh, things happened, and we sort of drifted apart. That's life though." Sans looked over her, then sighed and ruffled her hair. Then he was up in an instant.

"You're, uh, kinda intense aren't ya?" He chuckled as he scratched his cheek and looked at her with one eye closed. "I ran out of clothes pins with how much laundry ya hung up." Frisk flushed deeply and stared down at her feet. My, has that smudge always been there? Hmn, those are some interesting stains. A chuckle sounded from in front of her as he knelt down. Eye level with her his eye sockets lidded. "Either someone that detailed in their stories is someone so blatantly innocent and naive that it's painful, or they've got a lot to hide." His white dots flickered into nothingness with that last part, as his grin became sinister. "And we both know you got some things to hide kid."

His whites flicked back on as his smile widened and he stood back up. "Come on, I bet you're starvin', and I got this great dive that's open all night." Frisk blinked back at him, and looked around to find they were the only ones in the lobby and that Alphys' things were long gone. The lights of the building were starting to turn off, and she quickly hurried after him.

"Wait! Where's everyone!?" she had caught up to him and kept pace.

His arms were stretched over his head and his hands rested at the base of his skull. "Probably asleep or studying. It's pretty late." Frisk stopped in her tracks, causing him to pause his step and look over his shoulder lazily. She stared at the time on the wall. 1:00 am. She pailed. N-no way. They got out at 9:00 pm, and she was supposed to be at the train station at 10:00 pm...the last train of the night…

She fell to her knees over dramatically and sobbed into her arm. Sans flinched and held his hand out to her. "Kid?..." She then collapsed into a bundle and shrank into her sweater. Sans stiffened at the response. He then sighed, mumbled something about babysitting to himself, and knelt down in front of her. "Kid.." he tried once.

"unnnggg...I'm the worst adult…" He thought he heard her say.

A sigh and another try. "Kiiiid." He drew out in a deep monotone.

The sweater wriggled slightly, which was a step in the right direction he decided. "How am I gonna get home I'm gonna have to sleep out there all night I'm gonna be called a bum how did time get away from me so badly uggghhh."

Rolling his eyes he sighed. One last tactic. With a gentle tap with his knuckle on her head he stated, "Knock knock."

Frisk, hesitant in this, replied. "Who's there?"

"Sweater."

"Sweater who?"

"Don't sweater it kid, let's go get some food and I'll drive you home."

Staring at her through lidded eye sockets, she finally popped out of hiding and stared at him in disbelief. Suspicion filled her expression as her lips tightened. Sans quirked his brow, his patience starting to thin with this bizarre creature. "You sure?" His grin stretched as he stared at her.

"Yeah."

"You're not…"

"Not what kid?"

"Not...gonna drive me off a cliff are you?"

He snorted and chuckled lazily. "If I was gonna do that then I would have stuffed you in a bag and tossed you off my moped."

"You have a moped?"

"Are you gonna judge me all night or are we gonna go get some food?"

Frisk sighed and stood up, straightening herself out, pulling on her bag and holding her hand out to him. He took it, but didn't move. She stared down at him, and could feel her skin crawl like earlier. Her skin weighed down like cold lead as she stared into two black holes. The school lights had turned out, and the only thing that graced them with light was the star field past the windows that lined the hall. "Though, if you do anything stupid on the way there, you're gonna have a bad time." his voice echoed through her head, and her throat seemed to tighten shut. "Hang on just one second." a more vaguely upbeat version of the voice insisted as the air around her seemed to tighten, as well as what seemed like space.

Then she was tugged along, and she stared back at the spot she was torn from. She fell over and hit the asphalt, then gasped and coughed as air filled her lungs. Like she was airlocked sealed and then removed from the packaging in the course of ten seconds. Once Frisk regained her senses she stared up at the skeleton, who smiled innocently and shrugged, his hands behind his back. "What?" He said cheekily, and grinned down at her with a giant cheshire grin.

She pushed herself up off the ground, stumbled for a moment, then found her standing. "What was that?"

"Hmm?"

"That - that - how did we even get out here so fast?!" she looked around, staring at the parking lot and gesturing to it wildly.

Sans was grinning from ear to ear, if only he had ears, and then shrugged. "Dunno what you're getting on about." He walked away from her. Frisk scoffed and followed after him.

"Yes you do! Stop changing the subject!" They stopped at a powder blue moped with white stripes and a gold symbol on the side. White interior with a couple padded blue seats that matched the paint job.

"What subject?" He said with a wide grin as he held out a helmet to her. Frisk grumbled and flicked the bridge of his nose. Crocodile tears filled the corner of his eyes as he sighed dramatically. "You wound me." He mounted the moped, and she crawled onto the back of it, gripping him tightly. "My poor pride."

"What pride?" she mumbled into his shoulder, causing him to scoff at her as he revved up the engine.

"Oh, my other pride." and off they went like a shooting star in the quiet streets of New Home's outskirts.

…

A lull of soft country rock filled the air as a golden glow hung in the air of the establishment Frisk currently found herself in. Determination radiated from her as she sat across from Sans, who was busying himself with a ketchup coated fry. He still seemed slightly annoyed at her presence, but that was mainly because she was human. He seemed to be warming up to her though, from what she could tell from the events of the night.

She was gonna get him on her side though. He was too terrifying and intimidating to let it be any other way.

Two knocks were laid out on the maple wood table. Two white flecks shot to the origin of the sound, and a grin widened.

"Knock knock"

Sans chuckled at her. He hadn't seen this much attempt at being his friend in a long time. He leaned forward and ate his fry in one bite. He savored the sweet tang of the sauce - he could drink it all night if he were alone. "Who's there?"

"Little old lady."

"Little old lady who?"

"Wow I didn't know you could yodel!" she said amazed, and he busted out laughing. Not that he hadn't heard it a thousand and one times, but that inflection just made it so damn funny.

"Damn kid that was horrible."

Frisk grinned wildly at Sans. "Yup, just how I like them. Horrible." She giggled and leaned back in her seat. It was almost three in the morning but she was having a blast befriending the skeleton across from her. He chuckled and leaned back into his seat.

"Same, but a lot of people tend to pick a _bone_ with me over it."

"I guess they have no sense _tibia_ honest."

"Well maybe they just need to find someone to make it more _humerus_."

Frisk nudged him under the table and gave him a sideway glance. "Pun stealer." She pouted.

Sans shrugged as he nudged her back. "Grace periods over kid."

She huffed and slouched, and they both grinned wildly at each other.

A thought came to her then, and she sat up suddenly, causing Sans to drop his grin. Determination filled her and it bore down on him, and he had never wanted to become a mole more badly than that instant. "Uh...what's up kid?"

"In class." Sans expression tightened and he sat up.

"Yeah? What about it?"

"In class you were fast asleep, and yet you were the first to leave." Sans stared at her in a way that said 'get to the point'. Frisk took in a deep breath. "I thought you would be the last to leave! What about note taking!? What about having to study extra hard!? I thought that you would be someone that would be paying attention more than the others and - why are you laughing so hard!?" Frisk was red in the face as she stared at the skeleton laughing into the table.

"Oh god kid, you actually scared me for a second." He sat up and wiped away a glowing blue tear, humor dancing in his stare. "Like Gaster might have caught me or something." He laughed and rubbed his face, then leaned back and closed his eyes like a grinning fool. "There's nothing to worry about."

"But...but you missed the whole lecture."

"Don't sweat it I have that covered." he looked over her. "Those big books are for idiots." He yelped as he gripped his shin, holding it as he brought his legs up to his seat and he stared at her. "No need to be violent, geeze."

Frisk glared at Sans, and then sighed and tapped her fingertips together bashfully. "Sorry, I just...don't like to be called an idiot."

Sans stared at her, taking in her posture, and sighed as he stretched his legs to where his feet rested on either side of her. She blinked at them then stared at him curiously. An annoyed expression filled his face, and there was a hint of guilt maybe as a faint blue rested on his cheeks. Her head tilted. Did he actually feel bad?

"Didn't mean it like that…" he looked at her and he never looked more exhausted than he did in that moment. The world weighed on him and for a brief moment he showed that to her. Her chest tightened as she considered him. He wasn't a bad person, he just had a lot on him, and it seemed that he didn't have a lot of people to help him with it. A large smile plastered on his face after he noticed what he did, and he was back to his grinning fool tactic.

She stared at him, and met it with puppy eyes. "If you tell me I'll forgive you."

He scoffed and looked out the window. He then thought it over, and grunted. Turning back to her his smile was cheshire and his left eye glowed a brilliant blue. "At an hour and thirty-six point one-six minutes into the lecture Gaster was in the middle of a rambling of how quantum physics effects time and space, how the relativity of it doesn't effect monsters the same way it affects humans, and then one of his hands, in an elaborate flourish, knocked into one of the overhead lights, causing a spark to send out. At an hour and thirty-nine point three-eight minutes he jumped to the topic of projects for the term to recover from his blunder." he blinked and the blue was replaced with the standard two dots.

Frisk gasped loudly, causing Sans to beam with pride. "Wow Sans! That was so cool! You could - you could sell your knowledge to the students who couldn't keep up!" She whispered the last part, causing Sans to scoff.

"Not that I haven't tried that before."

"What was that?"

"I said we should be getting you home." Sans stood up and practically pulled Frisk out of her seat, dodging a flying glass and chuckling as the glass shattered on the wall above them. He called out from over his shoulder. "You-know-I-would-love-to-stay-and-chat-Grillz-but-I-gotta-escort-this-lovely-lady-home-just-put-it-on-my-tab-bye!"

And out they went.

…

"Hey kid, I gotta ask, what made you get your britches in a bundle and attend a school for monsters?"

"Hmn...Well...I have something that I've been dealing with. It's, uh, something personal that I need to see through."

"Like a goal or something like that?"

"Kinda...More like a need to know what it is."

They passed through the hills of the quiet dark town of New Home, and passed an invisible line that lit up streets with yellow street lights. Human life was filtering through and suddenly they were among human buildings. An apartment complex came into view.

They puttered to a stop and Frisk hopped off.

"Thanks for the ride Sans, it's been really fun." She smiled genuinely at the skeleton, and was about to leave when he caught her wrist. Stopping in her tracks she looked over her shoulder, straight into a pair of tired white dots. They could have a duel about the bags under their eyes and they would be tied. "What's up?"

He considered her, took a deep long look at her, and the air of judgment hung in the air between them. His eyes flickered to her heart, and a red shimmer glowed from her. There was a few strands of black, but they were weak. Kid wasn't a bad human, but every human has their sins to carry. Hopefully hers weren't bad enough for him to need to take action. Her soul chirped and danced around happily though, and with that he dropped his hand from hers.

"Heh. Ya know, I was gonna say something…" His monotone echoed deeply in her, causing her to turn to him fully. "But I forgot." He smiled at her and shrugged heavily. She smiled and nodded. Giving him a quick hug she turned and disappeared into her apartment complex.

He sighed to himself and jetted off before the pink cotton of the morning sun reached out too much, before the early sun found him and alerted others of his presence. Frisk might be a good kid, but other humans, well, he would bet a thousand to one that they weren't so good.

It was going to be an interesting semester for him.

 **...**

 **There we have it. Please RnR. I would like to know peoples opinions on this story.**


	3. Maroon Eyed Sweetheart

**So I've been up until three in the morning this past week, finding myself writing for this story. I have a chapter written out for further down the line, and two half chapters. One of them is the ending to this.**

 **Plot bunnies, I have my other story I need to update. I have stickers I need to create for Denver Comic Con! This is blatant harassment.**

 **I don't think they care very much.**

 **Hnng...**

 **Anyways, time for replies!**

 **Weekender gal: Thank you! I kept on seeing Frisk as this damsel in distress type, and it's been irking me. Because she's not like that for me. She handled all of the underground by herself, without crying or freaking out or losing herself (I'm going all pacifist run here with her). She's very capable, so I figure, why not here? She's seen worse! She's a li'l champion!**

 **Rosie Vulpes: Asriel is actually in this chapter, but he doesn't really play much a part aside from being a gosh darn sweetheart and friend to Frisk. He's pretty much a minor character sadly. As for Chara...oh ho ho. She's a major player later on, but not for a while. Might be a few chapters out, but when she gets on scene, oh boy.**

 **Thank you to my additional followers and watchers. You humble me.**

 **Enjoy!**

 **...**

It was close to noon when Frisk left the apartment. Dressed in a large coat the woman that she lived with knitted for her, it was a soft beige color and reached her knees with sleeves that ended just above her fingertips. The fact that the collar was large and puffy added to the largeness of it. She could fall asleep in it, and she had a couple times on more restless nights. She sighed as the smell sat in her head - soft lilac and sage.

Turning back to the card tucked in her hand, with a little spider symbol on it she looked over the address a few times until she came to the right spot. The door chimed cheerfully, causing the owner to look up and giggle into the back of her hand at the tiny-in-a-sweater human. "Adorable." She then gasped as she recognized who it was. Her smile grew as she leaned against the counter. "Oooh! It's the human from the train! I was wondering." She smiled sweetly as she tilted her head. "It's been two or so days darling human, I thought you might have dropped off of existing, and that was a mildly sad thought for me." She pressed one hand against her chest as she rested her head in two. Five eyes blinked in a fluid motion as she watched Frisk take in the shop.

Lavender and maroon stripes swirled in a Victorian style, with electrical lights in the shape of old gas lamps lighting the small bakery with yellow glows. Dark grey lined the walls and shelves built into the wall colored that same grey held jars of all sizes with candies and cookies and ingredients for baking of all kind. More obscure ingredients were held behind locked glass doors, mostly for show for the humans that graced the shop. Muffet chuckled at the memory of witches and more daring monsters that wanted something more dastardly from her shop.

Who was she to turn away a coin that needed a home?

Muffet blinked rapidly as the chime of the small counter bell caught her attention. Glancing at the human, who shined a sweet smile that peaked over the puffed collar, Muffet giggled kindly and leaned down to face the short human at eyes level. "Oh? A customer?" She hissed gingerly through green lips as her eyes lidded in appreciation. "What shall it be? A spider donut? An aracnocochip cookie? How about a tunnel-tarantula-truffle?" Her head tilted slightly. Her eyes flickered to the treat the human pointed to, and smiled delightfully. "A gingerbread daddy long leg? Wonderful! That will be ten gold." She held her hand out, and giggled at the skeptical look on Frisks face. "They're expensive because they're the best cookie you will ever have." she smiled as she gestured to the water jug with floating plastic spiders.

She wasn't going to put real spiders in there. That would be silly, her parents were already wary of her running the shop, and she didn't need 'drowning the extended family' on the list.

"Water is on the house." She smiled, ignoring the urge to charge for water as well. She did that for a few months, but her boss said that that was 'unethical' or some shtick of the sort. Stingy humans and monsters alike is what Muffet chocked it up as. "Have a seat outside, it's a beautiful day." Frisk nodded as she took the cookie and left to an outside table.

A warm breeze floated over Frisk, causing the young woman to sigh contently and sink into her seat. It really was a beautiful day in New Home. It was kind of a shame she had so much work going on, the kind of work that if she even cracked the window open for a second it would disrupt all her hard work. She shrugged the thought away and nibbled on a leg of the cookie. An approving squeak sounded from her.

A light laugh from next to her nearly caused her to drop her snack. Her eyes snapped, and there sat a young goat monster smiling at her. His white fur contrasted with the lime green of his button-up nicely. The sleeves were rolled up, exposing his forearms and Frisk took note of how lean he was. A pair of tan slacks and sharp black dress shoes finished his outfit. A handsome grin landed on the goat boys face, as his maroon eyes glinted in amusement. His horns were curled back and tapered off to dull tips. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to laugh, I just hardly see a human hop into a monster's shop so intentionally. It was a delightful change of pace." He smiled charmingly as he leaned on his elbow and watched her gleefully. A slight blush came forth from her, not used to the attention.

Frisk waved the goat boy's well-intended words off and turned back to her cookie. Another soothing chuckle sounded from the boy, who seemed not too much older than her - maybe a couple years on her. "Oh no, I didn't offend you? Did I?" There was a hurt tone to him, causing Frisk to jump and shake her head frantically, trying to assure the boy next to her.

"N-no! What?" She laughed quickly, nervously, and smiled widely at him to assure him. "What? That's ridiculous!" She squeaked as two legs snapped off her cookie and fell to the ground loudly. Frisk flinched as she felt five eyes on her with intense anger. Frisk groaned as she sunk into her large collar. "Uuugghhh." She sighed, taking in a deep breath, and looking at the boy with the large concerned eyes. Her hand snapped out to him, almost causing him to fall out of his seat in surprise. "Hi! I'm Frisk! I don't really know how to act my own race. I really like monster shops, and if that's going to bother you at all mister, well then I'm sorry but we can't be friends if that's the case!" She stated, determination oozing out of every pore of that sentence.

Hysterical laughter ensued from him. A very nasally, almost ugly if it didn't tinkle like bells, so sweet you could collect it from a hive type of laughter that made Frisk flush from pure embarrassment. Her pose wilted, and the idea of her going back inside and facing Muffets wrath sounded quite nice compared to this.

"Well...I…" She stated lamely, then sighed as she went to stand up. "Sorry for wasting your time sir." Robotic words fell from her lips, but they were slapped away as two large soft white paws landed on her shoulders.

"No wait!" He started quickly, then cleared his throat as he stumbled over himself. "I'm sorry, that was entirely rude of me and I do apologize for it!" The goat boy looked down at the now very wilted outstretched hand, and he took it with such enthusiasm that she feared her hand would break. "Asriel Dreemur. Asriel Dreemur, ambassador in training!" He said energetically, boyish wonder swimming in his features, and Frisk could giggle at his passion. It wasn't unlike her own.

Frisk nodded and beamed at the goat boy Asriel. "Frisk, scientist in training." She giggled at his awe.

"Scientist? That's amazing! I didn't figure you were the type!"

She withdrew her hand at that statement and turned away with a cold shoulder. "Well then, no more handshakes for you then." She scoffed into her cookie.

Asriel squacked in panic. "No! That's not what I meant - ooooh come on Asriel remember what mom told you, think before you speak!" He mumbled to himself. Frisk eyed the freshly taken seat across from her, as maroon eyes searched hers pleadingly. "No, it's just that, you're too pip to be a scientist!" Her face flushed red. Pip? What was this, the 30's? "And well, I'm training to be the ambassador for monster human relationships, and I know I need to work on my wording! And-"

Frisk laughed and held up her hand in surrender. "Woah, woah! Calm down! You're fine Asriel, but you need to stop to breath at least once in awhile." her words spilled from her between chuckles as she watched the poor goat shifted uncomfortably and looked away bashfully.

"I know."

Finishing her cookie she looked over the distraught goat. "Ever try the underwear tactic?" Asriels eyes widened in horror. This sparked her into another roar of laughter. "Oh god not whatever you're thinking! Get your mind out of the gutter you weird boy!" She snickered as a blush sat heavily on his face, causing her to pat his arm comfortingly. "No no, what it is, is when you're speaking in front of an audience, and you feel a case of stage fright coming on, you just imagine them in their underwear!"

His blush only deepened as he stared her dead in the eye. "Every meeting at least a handful of naturalists come in."

"...Naturalists?"

"Yeah. Ya know. Monsters who think clothing is oppressive."

Frisks eyes widened in slow creeping horror. "So they…"

"Yeah."

"Come in completely-"

"Yup."

"Butt naked?"

Asriel grimaced as he looked away sideways. "This one guy doesn't even have a butt...He's just this huge pear shape, and I think he has random spikes coming out of him...I've heard the group call him Jerry." He rubbed his face at the memory. "He gives me this ugly look while we're talking, and when he has me cornered he wriggles his brows at me…" He slid his look to Frisk as his own brow twitched. "...seductively, like he thinks I want him or something."

Frisk lost it at that. She knew the poor guy was being serious, but the whole thing sounded absolutely mortifying. And thus forth was completely hilarious for her. Asriel scowled playfully.

"It's not something to laugh at. How would you like it if a pear shaped Jerry sauntered into wherever you were making a speech and started winking seductively at you while being serious?"

Frisk snorted and laughed deeply. "Oh god he winks too?!" She threw herself onto the table and laughed into her arms, a smile rising from Asriel.

"At least once every meeting."

An elaborate beep alerted Asriel as he fished out a pager from his pocket. "Ah shoot." he stood scooted the seat out and went to stood. Frisk chuckled and wiped her eyes, then took note and stood up to meet him.

"Heading out so soon?"

"Yeah. Mom wants me at the meeting." he mumbled under his breath, and smiled down at Frisk. He had a good foot and a half on the girl, which was both overwhelming and underwhelming at the same time. Yeah, people tended to be taller than her, but not this tall. In one swoop Frisk was picked up and brought into a tight bearhug. "It was great to meet you, Frisk the scientist in training." He said cheerfully as he set he down.

She scratched her cheek and ignored the thick blush. "It was great to meet you too, Asriel the ambassador in training." She beamed up at him.

She waved him off as he rushed down the street, then around the corner, and away he went to most likely save the day.

"Frisk?" A chirp from behind her caused the human to whip around and come face to face with a yellow reptile.

Alphys, dressed in a lovely polka-dotted blouse and a pair of blue jeans, blinked at Frisk over her glasses as she held a box of sweets. "Oh, hey Alphys, what a wonderful surprise seeing you here." She smiled.

Alphys stepped out of the shop and looked down the street. "Was that..that was weird seeing someone like him at a low key place like this...but…" she looked around at the sporadic humans wandering the streets. "Well...I guess that would…"

"Alphys?" Frisk inquired, snapping Alphys out of her train of thought. She smiled at the human and shook her head.

"O-oh, nothing Frisk. I w-was just...surprised is all." She laughed nervously, then clamped her lips tight as she glanced back down the way Asriel went.

Deciding to change the subject, Frisk looked at the box. "So, um, what's in the box?"

"O-oh! T-this!? Heh, w-well, I have to a-admit, Frisk, Muffet's baked goods are k-kinda a g-guilty p-p-pleasure of mine. Ehehe...heh…" She shifted nervously. "B-besides, I don't l-live too far off f-from here, and s-so it's kinda enroute of my usual e-erands."

Frisk gasped. "I only live a couple blocks from here!"

"R-really?"

"Yeah! Heck, if I had known you lived so close I would have pestered you before coming here!"

"But then you wouldn't h-have met that g-guy."

A shrug was Frisks response. "If you don't have much going on after this, you should come over! I wanted to get a second opinion on my project!"

"B-but Pr-professor Gaster hasn't assigned projects y-yet."

"Well I'm a little bit of an over achiever." She grinned coyly.

"OMG ME TOO!" she slapped a hand over her mouth, and fumbled with the box of sweets. "W-when I'm not t-too engrossed with the latest episode of Mew Mew." She mumbled under her breath and followed it with a nervous laugh. She looked at Frisk, who wore a sweet patient smile, and sighed. "S-sorry Frisk, but I have some errands to run still. B-but I can pick you up for class tonight! S-since you live c-close by, i-if you would l-like."

Frisk's smile doubled. "We can talk about the latest episode of-"

"I know right it was so good!"

"With that fight scene with the rainbow lasers-"

"And Clairabell claiming her undying love-"

"And then that explosion that really-"

"Made everyone do that uncontrollable dance until they figured out the ultimate combo move!" they finished at the same time, laughed over it, and exchanged contact information.

With quick goodbyes they parted ways and went back to their respective living places until they would meet up again that night.

…

A large box sat in Frisks arms, barely able to look over it as she stood at the curb of her apartment building's parking lot. White air puffed from her blue-tinted lips, and she almost faltered from the chill to return to her home when a squeaky honk caught her attention. A pair of lights approached her, and she giggled at the transport in front of her.

A small bright yellow Volkswagen bug had puttered to a stop, with a happy little daisy on the front of it where the symbol would normally be. The lights had curly lashes, and another squeaky honk sounded.

"Alphys! This car is so adorable!" Frisk cheered, and slid into the passenger's seat, cradling the box gingerly. Alphys giggled and looked away sheepishly. She then took note of the standard white cardboard box, and felt something in the pit of her stomach warble.

"Is that.."

"Yup! I'm bringing it in with me. I'm having some trouble with making it function, and I figured I could have you and Sans take a look at it."

Confusion stained Alphys' already concerned expression. "I thought you two weren't on...g-good terms?"

Frisk shook her head. "We're alright."

A cautious nod was all Alphys added to the conversation further, and with a couple shifts of the stick, they puttered off to their destination. The ride was long, but the awkwardness of it fell away quickly as they went into their fan girl ramblings.

…

Sans was there by the time the two of them arrived. Monsters were settling into their seats, and Alphys scurried to the seat next to the skeleton. A deep blush glowed off the reptile as she set her items on the table in a uniform way.

Puffing the bangs out of her face, Frisk shifted the box in her arms as she eyed Sans. He seemed unphased by her presence. She rolled her eyes and continued to the spot she sat at last. At least it was progress from the hostility of last class.

A boney hand caught her arm as she passed by him though, causing her to start and almost drop the precious box. Tossing him an annoyed stare, Sans seemed no different as he continued to stare forward. She tested the grip, but sadly it didn't give. The box was starting to get particularly heavy. Her fingers strained.

Letting out an annoyed sigh, she addressed him. "Sans, I really need to put this-"

"What's in the box kid?" He asked, and she could feel the cold of needles shooting down her back. Before the fear could set in she jerked her arm out of his grip successfully. The feeling faded instantly, which received an annoyed look from him.

"Don't worry, it's not a monster killing machine or anything." Mumbles from the class grew, and she snapped to everyone else. "It's not!" They stopped and replaced their mumblings with whistles. She rolled her eyes and scoffed, turning back to the skeleton. "I was going to ask you for some help on it, but if you're going to act like this then I'll figure out something else."

The box was out of her hands, and in the blue glow of Sans abilities as he walked the large box to the back table. Setting it down gently he turned to Frisk, flicking his hand and gesturing for her to open it. Childlike curiosity etched in him. Like a kid on Christmas morning.

It took all of her willpower not to fawn over the cute expression. Leaving it with a chuckle she walked over to the box. She was tailed by Alphys, whose expression matched Sans. A couple of the nearby monsters were glancing in their direction, but they shrugged it off and turned back to their ventures.

At some point Professor Gaster had walked into the room, and had noticed the three caught up in their own world.

Frisks and his eyes caught, and he sent her a concerned look. She just smiled at him assuringly, and with that Gaster started class.

...

 **Please RnR, thank you!**


	4. Conflict of Gold and Blue

**Good god I'm so bad. I keep on having this urge to stay up into the wee hours of the morning just working on this.**

 **It demands my attention, and I just can't seem to refuse it!**

 **I wanted to provide a little insight into this chapter, and show the relationship between Sans and Alphys a little more clearly. I honestly do think that they had a strong friendship, but things got in the way and so they became slightly estranged between the two. She only has the best of intentions for him, and looks out for him when she isn't in her own way. I just adore Alphys so much as a character in general.**

 **I wanted to thank all the support! The recent followers/story favorites, and of course the reviewers! Every one that's read this, and keeps reading it, thank you so very much! You guys fuel my determination to work on this.**

 **Replies:**

 **and 7h3-p4g3-0-5p4c3: HUAHUAHUAAAA~ YOU HAVE READ RIGHT THROUGH MY PLANS FOR GASTER, YOU SMART CREATURE YOU!~**

 **MachUPB: Thank you! I'm glad you're enjoying the ride.**

 **Onto the chapter! I do not own any of the Undertale characters.**

 **...**

There was a sort of soft revelation between Frisk and the two monster friends, _as there always seemed to be_ something in the back of her mind whispered. The mad ramblings from the front of the classroom hadn't caught their attention despite the rest of the class. There were engrossed mumblings from the other monsters - a class of thirteen in total - as they focused in on topics that were allowed and not allowed.

No death rays.

No gene splicing experiments.

Nothing aimed intentionally at the prospect of hurting, maiming, or killing people in general. Nothing to cause mass destruction to civilization as they knew it.

This caused a couple people to groan in frustration, and when the second option was noted Alphys cursed under her breath subconsciously, her eyes still trained on the wires caught in her claws.

When the machine had sputtered some form of function Frisk smiled triumphantly, and high-fived the golden reptile. Sans checked the numbers and jotted them down, scoffing as the machine had broken down once more. He stole a glance towards the owner of the contraption, with many questions that sank into him painfully. He would have to corner the human on this matter. There were no hints about its appearance that verified what it could possibly be.

For all he knew it could have really been a death machine. But..

He eyed the two rectangles with a bitter twinge of deja vu.

Maybe he could work on a bone-a-fied truth serum to test on the human. Wouldn't that be a grand science experiment for the semester?

Sans glanced up at the professor, and they exchanged a look that ended with the man up front giving a disgruntled glance to the human, and with that he dismissed the class. Had they really been at it for two and a half hours? Going over the information he recorded in his mind, and taking note that it was just as long as all the others, he let out an annoyed sigh.

Frisk looked around as she eyed the class filling out, each talking amongst themselves at their potential projects. "Huh...Time flies."

"Does it go oink? I do love time bacon." Alphys mumbled absentmindedly as she tweaked a couple of the wires. Her engineering-aimed mind working the layout of the machine, how things were supposed to link up, and her mind dug through her internal catalogue of more complex versions of 'you connect the wire to point A and point B and the light with turn on'.

Sans chuckled. Alphys the little techy. The nick-name clung to her through their schooling together, and one wouldn't have to grasp too hard to figure out why. Probably his longest running friend, Alphys was known for making little creatures that worked. She kinda went too far in highschool when the anime 'Pokemon' came out, going so far as to figure out the blueprints for a Pikachu, and actually put it to use.

The results were terrifying for anyone on the outside, and with it reaching weapon-of-mass-destruction levels only a week after its creation, poor Alphys had to put the thing out of its misery.

Frisk smiled sweetly at Alphys, resting a hand on her shoulder to bring her out of her thoughts. They exchanged a long stare, before Alphys sighed deeply and closed it up. "M-maybe for a-another time." Frisk nodded comfortingly as she put her project back into the box.

"I'm bringing it in next Tuesday, but I'm going to have to fly solo on that." Alphys sent Frisk a hurt expression as she landed a hand on her chest. Mock insult. Frisk giggled. "You need to figure out a project for yourselves!" Frisk sent a glance to Sans, which sent a chill up his spine. Her eyes were cold at him.

There was a slight sense of guilt that washed over him. He kept his hands out of the whole thing when Alphys had nearly broken one of his digits off in a sharp attempt to get to a wire that he had touched not even a second prior. She was more gentle with Frisk, pushing aside her fingers to get to wires and places she needed, and only scoffed at the human when there were complications in the layout.

Sans learned long ago to stay out of the way when Alphys was in her element, and boy was digging around in metal boxes to make lights go on her element.

"I do have a project!" Frisk nearly jumped at the rare tone of assertion that was in Alphys' voice. Frisk sent her a look, and pailed at the maniacal expression that paired with clutching hands. "I'm going to complete the first working robot that is artificially intelligent on a level of possession."

Both Frisks and Sans jaws clenched at how Alphys spoke.

"Uh, Alph, prof said no gene splicing…"

Alphys perked immediately, her experior painfully cheerful. "Oh I know!" She chirped, and then slumped slightly, unsurly. "It's not-t-t g-gene splic-cing. It's, uhm, A.I." Her lips clamped shut as she glanced sideways. Her clawed tips tapping together at the renaming.

Sans laughed at that and shrugged, walking away. "I'm hitting up Grillbz." He waved over his head as he walked away. The two girls looked at each other and shrugged, then pattered after him.

…

"And then he was thrown into a headlock! He s-struggled, at first, and w-when he encased her with b-blue magic and threw her across the field, she was so s-suprised!" Alphys spoke loudly in the intimate setting, her hands moving to mimic the arc the person in the story flew. She motioned running while still sitting in her seat, and Frisk was eating up the passionate storytelling. "She chased down Sans so fast after that, screaming out for a rematch of their duel." She shook her fist and did her best impression of a very angry and domineering expression.

Sans rolled his eyes as he leaned back, his amusement sitting in his grin. "I had to collect myself and grab my skull off the ground before she got back. Could say I was _head over heals_ during the whole situation."

Alphys shot an ugly look at the skeleton, but Frisk only laughed at that. Alphys glanced at Frisk as she urged her to continue on. Alphys laughed and scratched her cheek. She found the table rather interesting. "W-well, I, uh, didn't r-really gather up the c-courage to talk to her until after that. She had b-been shot so far and hit the g-ground so hard that when the adrenaline wore off she looked w-worse for wa-are. S-so, after Undyne had r-ran it off, I checked her." Alphys radiated the largest golden glow off her cheeks, akin to her magic (from what Frisk understood of Monsters and their functions at least). She melted at the memory, as she seemed to glow at the thought of this Undyne. She sighed as she laid a hand to her cheek. "Undyne gave me the largest smile as she watched me work. She was so sweet and caring, y-yet she still g-gave me a noogie." Her bliss stalled at that part.

Sans grinned at Frisk, leaning to her as he gestured with his squeeze bottle towards Alphys. "Alphys ended up following Undyne outside of class like a lost puppy at that point through high school." He leaned forward and whispered into Frisks ear. "Smitten." He grinned as he touched the tip of the ketchup bottle to his mouth.

Frisk gasped with a hand to her lips as she turned to Sans in mock wonder. "Smitten?"

"Tragically." Sans stated as he took a swig of the ketchup.

Alphys grabbed for the bottle with a scowl, but he rested his free hand on her face and kept himself just out of reach. Alphys and her poor stubby arms, he always had the upper hand on her in the wingspan department. She whined. "S-sans!"

He turned back to the human, mischief thick in his gaze. She leaned towards him in anticipation. Whispers filled her mind as he spoke. "Undyne was hit pretty hard by the love bug too. She though, being friends with my brother, was equally as dense as he was. They are friends for a reason." He grinned as his mind wandered briefly. "Undyne was Captain of the football team, and Pap was, well, the best darn cheerleader a brother could ever hope for." He said, overly dramatic pride filled his voice as it warbled. He wiped away a non-existent tear.

Alphys had stopped flailing at the mention of Papyrus, and he remembered why. If he was of flesh and blood, he would be reminded by the lump in his throat that would have been there instead.

His gaze cast down as he took another swig of the ketchup - deeply and full of remorse.

He hated talking about his brother.

Especially with humans.

Maybe he forgot the human was actually a human.

Or maybe she didn't feel human at all to him.

He growled to himself as he turned away from Frisk, who snapped their gaze to Alphys immediately. She looked at the skeleton, then to the human, and then motioned for something in her purse. A boney hand caught her, causing Alphys to flinch and catch his glare.

Frisk clamped her lips tight, and she pushed away from the table. "I'm, uh, gonna go use the restroom." She gestured behind her, reading the situation as 'come back later', and she rushed over to the owner of the shop. Once she disappeared into the back room to 'relieve herself' Alphys let out a squeak of fear as she stared at Sans.

His white dots were gone and replaced by one glowing blue iris. "Alph." He stated, warning her.

Alphys' face scrunched as she looked at him, her expression bitter and full of complacency. She looked put out and guilty. "I can't keep doing this Sans."

"Alphys." His voice grew, insisting.

"I can't Sans! She needs to know something!"

" **Alphys**." he stood.

She slammed her hand to the table as she stood, meeting him. "Sans!" She yelled, terror pushed aside by certainty. "You can't keep pushing people away!" Her eyes glowed a faint gold, her words shooting into him as they had a stand-off of sorts.

He considered her words, then took his seat and sucked on the ketchup bottle.

Alphys looked at him, shaking as her nerves frayed at the ends. She felt eyes on them, and she laughed nervously, matching her smile as she waved at people assuringly. Taking note that Grillbz set down a rather hefty looking bottle of booze he had from behind his counter, which was most likely aimed at the skeleton whom didn't have the best track record of keeping his emotions in check, and had turned back to his previous cleaning of a glass. His sight was on them still, but at least he was not aiming to knock Sans out.

She sighed and took her seat, leaning on her arms as she looked at Sans tensely. Her hand patted his arm, gently yet awkwardly, since she was still so unsure of herself given they were in the same boat. Pushing as much compassion forward as she could, she started again.

"Sans, I know they are so far out. That Papyrus isn't here, and I know that scares you, c-cus I'm s-scared too…" Her voice faltered, and she jumped as Sans patted her arm lamely. She cleared her throat. "B-but Undyne..s-she s-sends me notes, f-from their s-station." She fidgeted as she coughed, unsure of how to go about this still. Jealousy burned two pin-hole holes in her skull. She sighed. "He's f-fine, Sans." She looked at him, and the silence weighed down on them. "He's b-busy, giving people h-hope." She patted his arm, and her cheeks puffed when he looked away from her.

"Yeah...I guess." He muttered, his shoulders hunched.

Alphys groaned internally, and she almost slid out of her seat. This was truly exhausting. No wonder they kinda stopped hanging out since graduation. He sure gave her a run for her title of 'most negative nelly' these days.

A thought popped into her head, as she jumped for her purse and dug through it, catching Sans attention. She pulled out a folded up paper, lined in blue and looking like it was torn from a notebook. She handed it to him, and insisted once confusion showed.

Setting the bottle down, he unfolded the paper. Holes dotted the paper where the pen had been pressed too hard. It was written in a weird mix of print and chicken scratch. He grinned at the familiarity of it.

 _Hey dork!_

 _Been lonely without me? Figures! I knew you would fall apart without me after our last visit! Fwuhuhuhu! But you know what dork? You're super strong! That's why I like you so much!_

 _Me?! I'm doing great! Asgore got back from his meeting, and he said that if things go according to plan, we'll all be home in a month! So expect me home in a month! We have many things to catch up on! Fwuhuhu~_

 _Tell that bone head that Pap's doing good too! He's the best chef ever! His food puts everyone in a great mood! I did teach him after all. I hear that dork up so early, he's the best alarm clock! Bone head needs to get his head on straight, Papyrus was worried for a month after our last visit! That guy pisses me off._

 _So yeah, we'll be home soon! Get ready for the best homecoming visit you'll ever have dork._

 _Hugs and kisses and all that sissy junk,_

 _Undyne_

Sans looked up from the letter, which was promptly snatched back and stuffed into Alphys' purse. She leaned forward and stared straight at him. "He's okay S-sans. S-see? Undyne would make sure nothing bad happened." She insisted, and he sighed, breaking under that logic.

Undyne nearly threw herself off the side of a cliff the time Papyrus had been knocked around a little too roughly by her. He was minorly concussed that day, but that didn't stop her from swearing that she would give her life to make sure her best friend was safe. Sans knew at his core that his little brother was fine. It just sucked without him around.

Another touch of a clawed hand drew him out of his thoughts, and at that she nodded, deciding on something. "So you need to g-get out of y-your own head for once and l-let someone in for a c-change!" She tried to demand, but it came out as more of a strong suggestion.

A call from behind them caught his attention, as Frisk stood from the other side of the room and eyed them to see if everything was clear. Alphys noticed the slight glimmer in his eyes at the sight of her, and she smiled. It was going to be a long and hard process for him, but he was on his way. "J-just think it over, for y-yourself. You d-deserve happiness t-too."

She then waved Frisk to joined them, and the rest of the night lead with the two girls chattering away until they had to depart for their respective homes. Sans smile wasn't as strained as it had been before.

 **...**

 **Oh gosh, I hope I wrote Undyne the right way, even if it's over a letter. Maybe I could have pushed her enthusiasm better? I dunno, critiques are welcomed.**

 **In any case, please RnR! Thank you!**


	5. Take a Break!

**I seem to be posting these up pretty quickly, I hope that's alright with everyone! :D**

 **Main reason why I'm posting this up today is because, well, I've had this written up for a few days now, and I wanted to hold onto it until some time had passed/a special occasion arose. So, today is a special day - the day I was born all those years ago! SO! As a present to myself and all my followers/readers, I wanted to put this up here just for you. :)**

 **I'm trying to get it to where the story is going and we see some character development/get more of the usual suspects on the scene. I have a couple ideas in mind for the next chapter, but since I can't work on it until after the weekend (Denver Comic Con woot!) it's just going to have to sit and I'll leave you guys with this!**

 **Replies:**

 **MachUPB: Thanks Mach, I'm pretty happy with that bit about Grillby too. I'm glad that you're liking how this is turning out, I shall not fail your expectations of me! *papyrus face***

 **Thank you everyone for reading this!**

 **Undertale belongs to Toby Fox~**

 **...**

It had been a few weeks since the semester started. Frisk had been a frequent in Sans life, and the strained relationship that was between him and Alphys actually had started to mend thanks to the human. Not that he would ever tell her that. Him and Frisk were on good terms though, so good infact that he actually traded numbers with her. Shocking.

They had a good repertoire going on since then, telling each other lame jokes and puns in a sort of horrible-sense-of-humor war. He would find himself laughing in the middle of the night at them on nights when there wasn't class. She seemed to be a bit of a night owl herself. Their point system was 'whoever admitted to finding the others jokes in bad taste lost' and a point would go to the other person. So far it was 7 to 5, with Sans in the lead. She was close though.

Then there would be moments in their conversations where either he or her would be caught up in a bad dream. One would message the other in that case, since neither of them hardly slept it seemed, and this built a stronger, deeper bond that bad jokes just couldn't build.

Deeper topics started to be delved into at that point. About family matters on both ends. She learned about his brother, and how their parents were out of the picture. One died when Pap was born, and the other simply disappeared when they were young. Pap didn't seem too phased, being too young to even remember the wayward father. Sans simply held onto a weight that he pushed into the back of his mind.

He was an angry kid. He was still an angry kid.

Hers was a little more simple, if not more tragic. She was part of an abusive family she said so casually. Her father wasn't around much, and when he was, well, he didn't win any awards. Her mother was a sniveling mess, often too scared or too deep in her vices to notice her suffering. She wasn't home much, and she ended up becoming a ward of the state when word got out of her living situation. Nothing much to it, she whispered with tinted bitterness.

It made him wonder how she could be so chipper.

Then it had evolved to where they would call each other in the middle of the night, either Frisk's voice trembling from accidentally falling asleep, and these horrible dreams would follow her. Of there being so much blood, but she never got into the details of it. Or him, calling her in a start and babbling on about seeing his brother scattered across the floor, and that he wasn't able to save him.

Most of the time they kept the other on the line as their hands fiddled with small tinker projects, getting their anxieties under wraps as they joked with each other until the one in mid panic felt comfortable enough to fall asleep again.

It was nice for them, and it was what they needed from each other. Still, something small in the back of their minds pulled. It was easily pushed away though.

...

Stray ketchup bottles sat empty on the bar table at Grillbz, as well as dozens of napkins with formulas and doodles, stained with splotches of red. Sans groaned into his hands as the formula he had been working on for the past month dangled in front of him, taunting him as the answer blurred in his mind. Just out of reach, and he had been on a wild goose chase through the echoing halls of his mind. He had went back over and over, constantly on repeat, Gasters lessons and formulas and notes in hundreds of books pertaining to his field of discovery. Stephen Hawking, that smug bastard, had found part of the answer he was looking for decades ago. Yet it only pertained to humans, what about the physics of monster kind and their impact on the fabric of space and time?

Chugging down another bottle of ketchup like it was water, his thirst for the stuff found no wall to hit. Monsterkind had access to magic, which was just a more complex version of human science. They knew more at birth, they knew how to break holes through the fabric of time and dance to the destination in mind with one step. Through the looking glass monsters could travel at their own whim, but why? He needed to know.

He sneered as he tried to hone in on the answers he had been hunting, and the harder he tried the more they got away from him. He was tripping over himself in the name of science, and it was getting old real quick.

A buzz hummed from his jacket pocket, and whipping it out the name 'Kid' popped into view. It was a text message.

Kid: Sans, I can feel your anger from here. Take a break.

Blue glowed on his cheeks and he looked around. Patrons of Grillbz were staring at him uncomfortably, keeping a far distance from him. Even the owner was staring at him warily, causing Sans to chuckle and scratch his cheek. He was known to radiate his emotions, he just didn't know that his frustration was one of those emotions.

Rubbing his face he leaned back on the bar stool, straightening up and collecting his research. Maybe she was right. He pouted at that thought. She seemed to be right about most things, and boy did it piss him off to some degree.

Another buzz, from 'Otaku'. Sans chuckled at the image that paired with the message, of the embarrassed looking yellow reptile with half her hand covering the camera.

Otaku: OMG THERS KAREOKE AT SIMONS! WE HAVE 2 GO u said u would go last tiem. PLZ PLZ PLZ!

He rolled his eyes. Alphys, for as smart as she was, clearly never figured out how to spell properly.

Sans: No, you know how I feel about karaoke. It Strausses me out.

Otaku: SO FUNNY but srsly lets go

Sans: Last time I took you I got volunteered to sing Cello Submarine.

Sans: How do I even know when we go you'll have my Bach instead of running off somewhere yelling 'I'll be bassoon'?

Otaku: FIEN GEEZE Ill ask Frisk to go w

Sans: You don't even know where she lives.

Otaku: That sounds like a volunteer

Sans: Alphys no.

Otaku: C U SOON BY!

Sans groaned as he closed his phone. He collected his notes and stuffed them in his jacket. Before Grillbz could throw anything at him Sans was out the door.

…

The crowd was thick as alcohol hung in the air. Sans made a face as a couple of women nudged past him. Two monster females, both on the skinny side much to his dislike. He groaned as he downed a shot of mustard in one go. What was a scientist like him even doing in a place like this? This wasn't for him, he'd rather be at an intimate setting, like Grillbz, or even Muffets. Any place was better than Simons. A small human and heavy set lizard hopped through the crowd and he remembered why; them.

He grinned at the two ladies, pushing the shot glass away from himself and slingshotting it down the bar. A pinging sound, glass shattering, and a man grunting loudly in confusion made Sans grin to himself.

"Sans! We got you a slot to sing!" Frisk cheered, backed up by a nervous smile from Alphys, and suddenly the fun was sucked right out of him. A piece of paper was shoved in his face by the human girl, and Sans lidded his eyes in annoyance. Fingers pointed excitedly. "You just put your song number here." Alphys held up a book and chuckled in a small way.

Sans grunted and ripped the paper out of Frisks hands, smacking it down on the table like he just killed a big house fly. "Sorry kid. No ifs, ands, or obos about it." he finished with a grin that would have swallowed her whole if she was any less determined.

Frisk snorted at the stretched pun and gripped the lining of his jacket. "Sans! Come on! We, as scientific minds, need time to get away from our numbers and calculations!" She started to shake him slightly, though he over exaggerated it for show. This received a crinkled nose and a more enthusiastic shaking. "YOU NEED TO TAKE A BREAK SANS!" She screamed, causing him to laugh deeply. She then stopped, considering herself, and then dropped her hands, causing her friends to look at her in a concerned way. Frisk smiled and rubbed the back of her neck. "Though, it's selfish of me to force you to do something you're not comfortable with doing." She laughed hollowly, and something in Sans sunk.

He groaned and landed his hand on her face in a half hearted attempt to console her. "There. There." He patted heavily. "No need to put me in the dog house kid, geeze." He snagged the book from Alphys, who flinched from the sudden motion, and flipped through it. Jotting down 134B he held the paper out to Frisk and grinned at her with lidded eyes. "If you just wanted to howl with me you could have said so."

Frisk stared at Sans, shot a look at the giggling Alphys, and snagged the paper as she walked to the front with a blush on her cheeks. This left Alphys with Sans, who glanced at the giggling reptile and could have sworn he heard some otaku term under her breath. He shoved her by the face and took another shot of mustard. "Goof."

After a few very poorly renditioned songs by horrible singers, as karaoke tended to have, Frisk belted out her version of 'Raised by Bats', adding her own little goofy butt wiggle dance. Sans laughed as she bounced around the stage, and by the end of it she was panting heavily. She bounced back to next to Sans and took her seat as Alphys took her spot on stage.

Poor girl looked like she was about to pass out from stage fright and then pointed at the DJ, stating in stutters to 'hit it'. 'I Believe in a Thing Called Love' sounded off, and she stumbled through the song. Though damn if she couldn't belt out the high notes the song needed.

The crowd cheered as Frisk watched her friend on stage, as a part of her social awkwardness melted when she went in full swing of the song. Frisk chuckled to herself as she ordered a 7n7. Sans raised his brow at her. "Whiskey?"

Frisk looked at him and laughed, leaning back into the counter as her eyes glanced over the crowd. "And Seven Up, as the cool kids want people to think they're drinking." She grinned at him as her drink came to her. Sans smirked.

"The cool kids huh?"

Frisk nodded and sucked on her drink, enjoying the sweetness of it.

A comfortable silence between them sat, and his mind began to wander back to his formula. His expression soured, but a snap of fingers snapped him back into reality. Frisk was staring at him with determination, and a faint blue fell on his cheeks, his expression wide and curious like a child's.

"Stop it."

Sans blinked a couple times. "Um?"

Frisk shook her head and flicked him on the forehead. A glare met her as he attempted to swat her hand away. "Going back to it. Stop it. You're taking a break remember." Sans scowled, and caught her hand before she did anything.

He pulled her close enough to where if he had a nose they would be touching, and he grinned a grin somewhere between wicked and irked. "Do that again kiddo. I dare you." He bared his canines at her dangerously.

A mischievous smile crawled onto her face. "You mean...like this?" She flicked his cranium with her free hand, and he roared out.

"Come here!" He started to shake her and tried to capture both her hands as she laughed loudly, wriggling out of his grasp and snatching her hands away before he could grab them. "Give. Me. Your. Hands!" A slight irish accent accompanying his demanding voice.

"Nevar!" She cried out, and soon enough she was cornered against the counter with Sans arms around her.

A high pitch squeal interrupted them. They turned to Alphys, who was squealing into her hands, and they then looked themselves over. One of his arms was wrapped around Frisks' waist and Sans was practically hanging off her, as he held both her hands in his free hand. He was grinning into her shoulder as she was leaned back into him.

They separated instantly, Frisk blushing down at the ground and Sans blushing as he ordered another shot of mustard. He paused for a moment, considering maybe he had a problem, but shrugged it off as he tossed back his fourth of the night. Spicey courage he told himself.

His name was called, and Sans pushed off into the crowd. Frisk went back to nursing her drink, trying to ignore Alphys as she slid in next to her with a swaying tail. Alphys nudged the human girl, and when she was acknowledged Alphys squealed. Frisk laughed at her friends excitement.

"I can hear the pitter patter of little skeletons now!"

Frisk laughed an ugly laugh through her nose and shoved Alphys playfully. "God you're awful Alphys, it isn't like that!" Frisk stared at her friend sideways. "You haven't been staying up watching awfully sappy romance animes have you?"

Alphys laughed loudly in a nervous way. "A-always!" she cried, and the two girls laughed amongst themselves.

His feet hit the stage, the light blinded him something fierce, and the cheers of the crowd echoed in his head painfully. He sighed as he gripped the microphone. Chimes and cheesy guitar strings played through the air as he took in a deep breath.

He then belted out 'Trololo Song' in tune with the soft chimes, causing the two girls in the back as well as most of the crowd to roar out in laughter.

…

The three friends laughed as they walked down the street to Alphys' car - having been the only one that drove and thus forth became the DD. Frisk went on in her bubbly way about how she had never heard anyone hold a note for that long at the end of Sans bit. He just shrugged and shoved his hands into his pocket, grinning all the while.

They turned a corner and cut through a couple buildings, popping out the other side to the parking lot. In mid chuckle Alphys paused, alerted as she felt her phone vibrate a certain way. She dove for it, frantic. Frisk and Sans glanced at her in worried ways. She had pulled out the device so quickly she fumbled it for a second. Finally snapping it open she held it close to her ear. Sans and Frisk glanced at each other before hovering around her to hear who was on the other side.

"H-hello?"

"Hey dork!" came a slightly muted, though still powerful voice from the other side. It sounded brash and excited. Alphys squeaked.

"Undyne!"

"That's right babe!" A cackle came from the other end.

Alphys held onto the phone for dear life, clutching it with both hands. "H-how are you able to call? I thought-"

"Nah! Don't sweat it! 'Member that letter I wrote ya? Well it's been a month!"

"I-it-" She whipped out the letter from her purse and then shot a glance to Sans, who showed Alphys the date on his phone. She gasped loudly, getting a response from the other end. "OHMYGODIT HAS BEEN!" A high-pitched squeak came from the reptile.

"Fwuhuhu damn straight!" There was a loud scuffling and something close to what sounded like dialtone, but not as mechanical, and then what followed was a groan from Undyne.

Whispers filled the air on Undynes end, and the three exchanged looks. Frisks eyes widened at Sans - he was almost ecstatic. His foot tapped wildly as he stared at the phone with large white pupils. Twice the size they were normally.

A scoff from Undyne sounded, as what sounded now like a dying cat was with her. "Bonehead with ya?"

Alphys squeaked and then cleared her throat. "Yeah?"

"Then - and sorry I gotta ask this babe - hand it over to him." She seemed frustrated, like she was trying to hold back someone.

Sans stare hopped between Alphys and the phone, before finally taking it. "H-hey?"

Another scoff, immediately followed by the sound of a scuffle.

A long pause. "...Hello?"

"BROTHER!"

A pure, childish smile grew on Sans. His eyes had a certain twinkle. "Hey bro. Keeping out of trouble over there?"

"CERTAINLY BROTHER! WOWWIE, UNDYNE SAID SHE WAS CALLING, BUT SHE HAD STATED THAT FOR WEEKS NOW! SO WHEN IT ACTUALLY HAPPENED I NEARLY WAS TARDY TO THE PARTY!" He sounded like he was right there with them. Sans didn't pull the phone from his ear though, like it didn't matter how loud he was.

Sans started to pace comfortably. "I guess they could say you-"

"SANS. NO. THIS IS A NICE CALL DON'T RUIN IT."

"Didn't have enough _thyme_ on your hands?"

"...I-WHAT, BROTHER, THAT WAS HORRIBLE. I WAS OFF DUTY FROM THE FOOD MUSEUM TODAY."

"I know that was a stretch, but hey, I _relish_ in making you _squid_ ish."

"OH MY GOD. MAYBE IT'S GOOD I'VE BEEN GONE FOR SO LONG. YOUR JOKES ARE STILL TERRIBLE!"

Sans laughed and shrugged, tucked off to the side from the other two. "See ya soon bro?"

"HOW DID YOU KNOW BROTHER? IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE A SURPRISE!"

"Blame Undyne for it bro."

A scream came from the phone, causing Sans to chuckle as he handed the phone back to Alphys.

He turned to Frisk as Alphys finished up the call with Undyne. Frisk, the outsider in all this, stared at Sans in confusion. His grin was excited, and there was a fire in his eyes that made her cheeks pink. The way he walked to her though was preditorial. Frisk let out a squeak, but before she could retreat he snagged her. He threw her up in the air about ten feet, and then caught her.

She didn't know what was going on, but she felt like she was on a personal rollercoaster. The utter randomness of it though made her laugh as she was spun around with him. She clung to him as he laughed, manic in his movements.

Alphys stared in slight horror at the two, and stumbled over herself when he came for her next. She was then scooped up under his arm, and she too was caught up in the chaos of his celebrations.

 **...**

 **Thank you all for reading, and please review!**


	6. A Letter of Request

**I don't even think I know what I'm doing with this fic anymore. Like, I'm just having fun with it, and all structure for it is out the window. The plot is out the window even quicker than Papyrus at Undyne's. I think I can Frankenstein some stuff up, but I think this has evolved to just fun stuff. I need to wait a few more chapters before the plot actually gets to the scene I think. I need to wait for Chara to get this ship out of port.**

 ***internal screaming***

 **Anyways, time for some replies!**

 **MachUPB: Thank you! You're just the sweetest for singing/typing me out a birthday song. :) Daaaaaww thank you so much for the compliments. They fill me with determination~ As for the skelebro reunion, it's going to be next chapter. It was going to be here, but it got away from me and then I realized I was already ten pages into a chapter, and I thought 'I should probably cut it here and do awesome reunion stuff next chapter!'. Also, that song fits Sans so well for me. The little troll he is. 3**

 **Oito Y:** **OH GOD I FORGOT TO INCLUDE THE SETTING -** **I mean, yes. Yes he is. It's not a joke. He just, uh, knows how to hide it well. (I made sure to include the setting in this chapter, silly me.) Thank you for pointing that out.** **Most of the monsters are based out of Ireland, since most of them never left home so they have some thick accents.**

 **Sfrostwolf: Thank you! I'm glad you find my brand of writing and story interesting. *cool shades***

 **Anyways, enjoy guys! I'm really glad everyone's enjoying the ride so far!**

 **...**

Another restless night.

Everything cut together in a frenzy of puzzle pieces and lasers.

She had heard once to never cross the lasers, from some movie involving ghosts and capturing them in bizarre boxes.

A large grin sat on her face below her mad scientist goggles as greens reflected off her face in sharp contrasts. Good times, good times.

The large button that sat in front of her flickered, attempting to keep power running to itself, but shorted out. Her grin was gone at that, replaced by a strong pout. She sighed as she powered off the beams of light so strong it could cut off body parts if one willed, and slouched back in her chair. Humming to herself she pushed up the goggles, and looked over to the corner of the room.

Sitting there, next to the bed which was sloppy with hastily tossed on blankets and laundry, in between said bed and a side table with a tiny television on it - one of those black and white cube t.v. boxes with the ears, was a glowing rectangle the same size and proportions to the one in front of her. That one said

RESET

same as the one in front of her, except it was missing the glowing aspect.

Metallic flavor hit her tongue and she blinked, her tongue going over her lip which she had been nibbling on. Jagged skin met the tip of her tongue, and she scowled at herself for nearly biting her lip off. She had drawn blood in her frustrations with the device.

It's not like she didn't have the best reference. She just couldn't exactly touch it, for fear of removing all her progress on this run.

Her eyes drifted to the floating star to her left, this one sitting in the real world and not just in her mind. That one she had an easier time duplicating for others to see, to feel, to use. Only trouble its original could cause was just saving a bunch of times.

Frisk turned her attention to the RESET box in front of her, and laughed to herself, cracking her knuckles. It tried with all its might to be as good as the original, and damn if she wasn't getting there.

She lazily slapped the save star to her left, and went through the steps in the same fashion as its original.

Everything was in order, and with that she saved all her attempts.

A call from outside her room caught her attention, and she slipped a cover over the two items then stepped out of her room - making sure to lock it before stepping away completely.

A tall black woman with a cup of coffee and a letter in her hands leaned against the kitchen counter when she stepped out. Frisk smiled in comfort at her room mate. The woman's eyes flickered to Frisk - two large glowing green eyes with cat slits in the center followed the small woman, and a fanged grin met her.

Big Momma B., as the black woman called herself, was a bit different than the average human. An old-voodoo woman from the south, whose mother was very much into the craft of it. Her father though was a Cat Monster. So, B. was indeed an oddity, but that was never really a bad thing to Frisk.

A twinge of guilt always set in her heart whenever she would catch B. between their odd schedules, but then again they had lives to live.

B. slapped her hand down on the table, along with the letter, and grinned into her coffee mug. "How's grand ole Ireland treating you dear?" She purred, followed by a loud slurp.

Frisk shrugged and pattered into the kitchen. "Kind of like the States." She said almost whistfully.

The taller woman chuckled, hunching forward as she looked where Frisk would be walking to. "New Home would be very much like that yeah." She bit the corner of her lip and turned to the smaller human. "I need to take you on a tour when our schedules line up better. What are you even working on in there anyways?" Her brows raised as Frisk hopped up onto a tall stool.

"School project." Frisk took a sip of her coffee and shook her head. Strong stuff.

B. chuckled at the response. "Don't need any baking soda, do you?" She grinned at Frisk's giggle.

"I think I'm good Big Momma." Her feet swung happily.

B. laughed to herself and looked into her cup for answers. "Yeah. Yeah, I guess you are." Her eyes flickered to Frisk and a letter snapped up in her fingers. "So good that you gave the ambassador of monsters a great impression."

Frisk did a double take, staring at the envelope that shimmered in gold metallic. There was a silver stamp on the front, and all in all it looked very important. "Ambas...Asriel? How did he even find my address?" She reached out to the letter, and flinched when it was slammed to the counter. B.'s nails grew slightly as she held the letter there.

Frisk's attention snapped to B., whose irises were practically lines. Her expression sat in a weird place between irked and furious. "Don't get involved with politics!" She snapped. "Especially Monster politics! They will chew you up and spit you out and have at you until you're a former shell of yourself!"

The small human chuckled nervously, having never seen her roommate so furious. "B, it's going to be fine. Asriel seems sweet enough."

B. threw her arms up and screamed into her hand, her coffee mug crashing against the wall with an over dramatic way. "Oh Frisk, my sweet little Frisk!" She threw herself forward, her hands catching her on the counter. Frisk was at that point curled up on her stool, hugging her knees to her chest with one hand and holding her mug protectively with the other. "Monster politics are the most brutal form of politics! They literally throw people around when they do not agree with each other! They can do it because they're Monsters, but YOU," She pointed a sharp finger to the girl across from her, "are a human!"

Frisk laughed as she was grabbed and dragged over the counter, sipping on her coffee while being hugged from behind, held by under her armpits. "Big Momma B. I'll be fine!" She scratched the poor halfling under her chin. A deep-throated purr was the response, and then a defeated sigh.

"Fine. BUT!" She flipped Frisk and held her up to eye level. Frisk looked down at the ground, which her feet dangled high above, and then at the face of her roommate.

"Please don't drop me after this-"

"But! If you have any problems, I want you to call me!" She shook Frisk once, and sighed as coffee was dumped on her front. B. didn't seem to notice. "I don't care if I'm in the middle of one of my readings, if things get too crazy in there, and you call, I'll rush down there and beat them all away with my current client!"

Frisk held back a laugh. After trying to get her mug as close to the counter without it bouncing too hard and letting it drop, she slapped her hands down on her roommates shoulders, and said in a soft way, "I think you just have really bad luck because you're a black cat."

B. shot Frisk an ugly look. "Don't get fresh with me." She dropped Frisk on the counter. "One doesn't forget when their tail is stepped on though. They will pay for their transgressions." She huffed, petting the slowly swaying black tail. Frisk laughed and nodded, leaning back and snagging the letter from under her. The taller woman sighed, blinked a couple times until the green cat eyes were replaced by brown human eyes. Chomping a few times until her fangs were standard canine teeth humans had. She wrapped her tail around her waist, and snapped so that it resembled a belt. She then patted Frisk on the head and left the apartment. "Remember my words Frisk!" she called over her shoulder before the door closed.

Frisk nodded and turned to the letter, remaining on the counter as she peeled open the envelope.

Pulling out the letter itself was an interesting action. It was printed on stiff yellowed card stock, and a purple ribbon was wrapped around the middle of it, keeping the letter together. On the center of it, where the ribbon met, was the royal symbol of all Monsterkind. Three triangles with a pair of wings. It was quite pretty with it being set in lavender contrasting the plum of the background and ribbon.

She smiled at the time that was put into it, and so, with as much effort as she could, she pulled the decorations off and unfolded the letter.

 _Dear Frisk,_

 _Greetings! This is Asriel Dreemur, Ambassador of the Royal Court, head of Monster-Human relations!_

 _I am writing you this day to request your presence at a meeting for Monster soldiers returning from the front line. It is a great day for my kind, and I thought that since you act so kindly to Monsters as well that you might be interested in being my plus one._

 _I know that it is a bizarre request with an equally bizarre reasoning behind it, but you just seemed like someone that would enjoy this kind of thing. I would have asked you in person, but you haven't shown up at Miss Muffet's bakery since that day._

 _Anyways, I request your presence as also to show a strong alliance between Monsterkind and Humankind, since there will be media of all sorts at this meeting. If you are interested, show up at the address below at seven thirty pm on the fifteenth day of this month. If you are not interested and do not show up, well, I know your address._

 _Dress formally,_

 _Ambassador Asriel Dreemur_

Frisk shuddered at the implied threat, and sighed to herself. Checking the calendar she smiled, glad that she had a couple days. It gave her plenty of time to get ready, and do a lot of work in between.

…

Tugging a pencil out of the hair tie that held her hair up, Frisk hummed to herself. The notebook sat, staring at her, with letters and numbers jumbled together with pictures and geographic shapes. Some pages hung off the binding of the book, and throughout the thick-from-notes book sat doodles. Doodles of things she thought of, people she met, and the buttons that she was working on actualizing. Thick circles that indented the paper bordered the RESET button that she doodled, which was met with a frustrated huff through her nose.

It was one of those days that being inside did nothing for her, especially the confines of her room. She could have popped over to Alphys, who she had been hanging out with on a regular basis between classes and working. But she was probably busy prepping for her girlfriends arrival back home. Her eyes lidded as her mind wandered. She was probably going to meet her and Papyrus at the ceremony Asriel invited her to…

Or else she could bug Sans, who...She glanced at her phone.

She had sent the skeleton texts late at night as per usual. It was nice. It helped her sleep, whenever she even tried to. But...since the night out about a week ago, with the news of his brother and Alphys' girlfriend arriving home, it was one sided…

Frisk groaned as she leaned back in her seat, causing five eyes to fall on her. She laid there limply as she stared up at the purple ceiling of the spider bakery.

Maybe she was a burden on Sans, and he was only humoring her out of pity...she hardly got the impression the short skeleton liked her...She held the phone up to her face as she looked at the one-sided conversation.

 _11:45pm, tues 8.11_

 _Me: Hey Sans!_

 _1:13am weds 8.12_

 _Me: Sans?_

 _3:48am weds 8.12_

 _Me:..._

 _8:16pm thurs 8.13_

 _Me: What does the skeleton play as a musical instrument?_

 _1:18am fri 8.14_

 _Me: A trombone._

She was pathetic. Caught in a path of self-loathing that her...what? Friend? Was he her friend? She tossed the phone to the table and sunk further. A loud crash sounded from above her, causing her to look to the side at the downpour that had started a moments before. A flash of white light surrounded the classy bakery, and she returned to her own pity party. The weather replicated her emotions.

She probably needed to distance herself. She scowled at the ceiling, like it had said a rather offensive joke. One sided affections were nine times out of ten the death of mental sanities. And she didn't need any more death to her logic and calculating side. It was the only thing getting her through her science class.

A clearing of the throat turned her grumpiness to the source, causing Muffet to scoff at the human mid swipe of the counter.

"Well fine, be that way. Stingy with your emotions, just like how most humans are stingy with their money. No need to take it out on your…" She tapped her lower lip in thought as three of her spare hands continued cleaning. The other two rested on her hips as she contemplated her next word. "...Dealer?" she shrugged, owl eyed as she glanced at the many plates where baked goods once lived, and the many empty cups that littered the humans table.

Frisk, also taking note of the accumulation of items on her desk, blushed at her subconscious desire for spider-baked goods and sweet teas. Turning to the spider woman, she cleared her throat and snapped her book shut. "Sorry Muffet, you're the best dealer a scientist could ask for." She smiled sweetly, earning a huff from the woman behind the counter. Crossing all six arms Muffet nodded determinedly.

"Since no one is here aside from one of my best customers of the day, I'll include a free therapy session, since I'm such a kind hearted business monster." Muffet sung and sat in an adjacent seat to Frisk. Full attention on her, Frisk could only groan as she slumped back into her seat.

"Muffet, you may be a wonderful...'dealer'," she gestured to the table, "but this is really something I shouldn't be putting on you."

Muffet giggled into her hand. "Oh no, you aren't putting anything on me. It's great gossip amongst the spiders." She hissed coolly.

"Oh boy."

"We're running low on material!" Muffet whined and leaned towards her patron, who sighed in response.

Pushing away from the table Frisk bowed out of the conversation, wanting nothing to do with the intent of it. "See you later Muffet." She nodded and turned to the exit, tucking her notebook someplace safe against the falling water.

"But what about payment?!"

"I already paid Muffet."

"Well, you could always pay again~"

Frisk laughed at the spiders enthusiasm at a lame scam as the bell jingled at her leaving.

Expecting to step out into the downpour she was caught under an umbrella. Unable to comprehend the appearance of it she turned to be face to face with the same skeleton that had irked her all week. Surprise from him echoed her annoyance.

"Kid?" He said absentmindedly, and he had caught a sudden bout of guilt. A boney finger scratched his cheek bone, as he looked at her hesitantly. "Hey, uh.." her shoulders shook as she turned away, walking away from her when her wrist was grabbed.

She snapped her gaze back to him, pushing back the hurt. He had enough time to come here? What was he even...she sighed and closed her eyes, forcing herself to relax. They weren't really friends, right? So why take it so personally? They had only been texting every night for the past...she bit her lower lip. It didn't matter. "Hey." She said calmly. Too calmly.

Sweat dripped from his skull, and he let go of her wrist only to stuff that same hand into his pocket. "Uh...yeah…" he cleared his throat. "Sorry about not texting back." He mumbled.

A raised brow sat on her face, unamused by the lame apology. "It's okay, your girlfriend probably wanted to bone you." She snapped suddenly, which caused her to stiffen and glare at the sidewalk. What? What?! WHAT?! What was that Frisk?! That was-was like, both inappropriate and a horrible joke! She kicked herself internally and stomped herself. That was horrible! God! Worst social skills!

A loud, rough laugh came from Sans, and she stared at him. He was laughing into his hand and keeled over. Her mind went blank at how he roared loudly. She put her hands to her face. She broke him.

OH MY GOD I BROKE SANS she screamed internally, watching in horror as he kept laughing.

"Oh god, you're not jealous are you?" he laughed out, causing her to snap out of her stupor, and kick him in the shin. His laughter was mixed with groans of pain.

"Screw you!" She snapped and grabbed herself by the arms. He looked up at her and his laughter quieted down quickly. He sighed and stood up straight, sticking both his hands in his pocket - the umbrella floated in place over them via blue magic.

"Okay okay, that was out of line, but seriously, that was a pretty bad line that only a jealous lover would spout." he grinned and leaned forward, pinching her cheek. She huffed at him and looked away. His grin faltered and he sighed, his hand dropped to his side.

His stare glazed over her, staring through her until finally she sighed, defeated, and dropped her arms to her side. She looked straight at him, shoulders squared. "I thought that maybe, because we aren't really on the best terms...we weren't friends?" there was a quick snort from him, but he coughed and waved his hand in front of his face, looking around for a pest of some sort. This caused her to look around as well, distracted. "Uh..Sans...what are you looking for?"

"Oh some bull flies."

Her brows furrowed. "Bull flies?"

"Yeah, they just love to shit wherever they go." He grinned at her gaping mouth, laughing as he draped an arm over her. "Kid, Frisk, lemme level with ya." He said smoothly. "I wouldn't hang around with someone I didn't like. Heck, if I didn't see some good in ya I would have taken you out back long ago and given ya the Lassy treatment." he made his finger into a gun and whispered 'pew'. This caused her to smile and laugh a little. He chuckled and squeezed her shoulder. "There we go." He sighed and looked at her, taking her in. She looked like a child that had been picked last on the courtyard. He chuckled at that. "Now, ask yourself, would I be up every night chatting with someone for weeks, just for the sake of chatting, if I didn't like them?"

She took a moment to contemplate that, and then shook her head. "No...I guess...But then, why haven't you.."

He grinned and leaned forward slightly to look her in the eyes. "Bro-bro's back in town. He discovered the wonders of caffeine." She blinked at him, at the cryptic meaning in that sentence. He chuckled and stood up straight. "He's always a handful the first week of him being back. By the time I can get to anything I'm passed out before I can lift a pencil." He chuckled and grinned widely. "But damn if I didn't miss him. Even if he doesn't find me humerus." He winked at Frisk, who still had a doubt to her smile.

"Mmmm...yeah...okay Sans." She forced a smile. "I get ya." she stepped back from him, but the umbrella hovered over her. He grinned, both hands in the jacket pocket, as rain drenched him to the bone. She snorted and put a hand to her mouth.

"Hey kid?"

"Hmm?"

"What does a skeleton go through on a boat?"

She tilted her head.

"A Carpal-tunnel."

This made her laugh the hardest she laughed in days. Broke through her anger wall. Wrecked it and left it in pieces. She looked at the skeleton, watching as his clothes sagged and hung off him.

"You should swing by some time, while Pap is here. We're supposed to go to this ceremony tomorrow, but you're more than welcome to come with if you're all caught up on your work."

Frisk nodded. "I, uh, actually got invited to that by Asriel."

Sans looked over her. "...the ambassador?"

She nodded and Sans grin grew tight. He gripped the handle to the shop.

"Huh…"

 **...**

 **Has anyone come up with that joke before? I dunno, I feel so original coming up with that one. Maybe I'm channeling someone...**

 **Please tell me I came up with that. It would make my bad jokes ego feel so much better~**

 **I should make Muffet a character on the summary, since she pops into this so much. Hmm...feedback?**

 **Anyways, thank you for reading, please review!**


	7. The Dreemurs

**Hey guys, guess what?! You get an extra long chapter!**

 **This thing got away from me so fast, but I figured damn the usual chapter length! Besides, there's no good place to split this anywhere...*puts out chapter for readers to enjoy***

 **I'm pretty happy with it though, length aside.**

 **Replies:**

 **Kazriel: Aww shucks. Thank you for the kind words. I will!**

 **MachUPB: Thanks! I hope this chapter provides a well enough explanation.**

 **Anywhoogle, onwards with the (extra long) chapter!**

 **I do not own undertale or its characters~**

 **...**

A thunderous knock filled the air of the small apartment Frisk partially rented. Her grip on the cup of noodles slipped, bouncing onto the linoleum and exploding. She groaned as she looked at her sweat pants, pulling at them and mumbling to herself. She tugged the extra large shirt down in hopes to cover some of the damage, and shuffled over to the door.

Home alone, so she could have sworn she wasn't expecting company. Her roommate was usually the one to invite strangers over at all hours of the day. Maybe it was one of those creeps?

Peaking through the peephole hardly did any good. Most of the time people either stood too close or in an odd way for her to get a good look. Also, she was too short to get any proper use out of the weird hole, even if they were standing in a proper way.

Twisting the knob and tugging until the flimsy sliding lock was strung tight, she eyed the visitor on the other side.

Monsters. Dog monsters. Guard dogs?

She blinked in rapid succession, trying to trick her mind into believing what her eyes saw.

A thick pink tongue slid up her face, and she sputtered as dog drool dripped off her chin. She looked for the reason why they were there. A loud bark from the one who licked her, and another bark that was similar to a clearing of the throat came from the other.

"La-dy FRISK?" He spoke in short spurts, similar to barks.

She nodded, awestruck by the black and white dog in armor.

He howled down the hall, causing her to stiffen at the loud noise. She could hear the shiftings of the apartment, the residents not too happy with the loud noise. Mumblings bubbled through the paper-thin walls, and she chewed on her lip.

Deep footsteps echoed the hall as it approached her.

What was this all…

Suddenly, everything popped into place like a six-piece puzzle.

She slapped her hand to her semi-dry face.

Oh damn it. Of course.

It was the fifteenth.

The door slammed in the face of the two guard dogs, which caused one to growl loudly and the other to whimper and scratch at the door.

"Hold on!" Was the faint cry from Frisk, and a few loud noises sounded from inside.

The scratching grew louder from the large white dog in armor, and the two were immediately joined by a couple who sniffed at the door.

"(Wet puppy?)"

"No, frantic human."

The female huffed and turned away from the male, who pouted and planted his nose against her cheek. They too were dressed in armor. The female sighed and patted the large scratching guard dog on the shoulder piece. "(Do not fret Greater Dog, if she takes too long we can break down the door easily.)"

The other of the couple shot an uneasy glance at the first. "I believe that is against the law, and the Ambassador is against those sort of things pertaining to this human."

The first shot a glare at the other. "(Have such things ever bothered me Dogamy?)"

Dogamy howled in response, causing the other three to stop in their actions and jut their heads upwards to imitate him.

A clearing of the throat brought the four guard dogs back to the real world, as Frisk stood there with her hair pulled up in a sloppy bun. She wore a red dress that came down to her knees, with leggings that covered her legs and made her a bit more comfortable in what she wore.

The female dog squinted her eyes at the sloppily dressed human. "(Hmm….grey on grey does not suit humans…)"

Frisk blinked at her in response, and was nearly ran over by the small dog in large armor. She laughed and gave Greater Dog belly rubs and scratches, causing the other three to stop immediately in what they were doing and pile on the overwhelmed human.

"PETS PETS PETS PATS POTS PATS PLATS PETS PETS"

They all shot up and stared down the hall, as a distant whistle sounded. They all rushed towards the whistle, with Frisk scooped up under Greater Dogs arm.

As they left the apartment building Frisk took note of the door that let residents in and out was missing. It looked like it was ripped off its hinges. She let out a sound as she was tossed into a car, which she landed hard in. She groaned and looked around the interior of the vehicle; a limo with the works. She then shot a glance at her visitors. They were all squatting outside the limo, their hands to their chests and their expressions were of waiting for a reward.

Another whistle, this time from behind her, and the dogs all piled into the limo. They all flopped down in the large interior of the limo, and were instantly asleep. Frisk pushed herself up, confused by the suddenness of them. A chuckle sounded from behind her, this time causing her to look behind her.

A soft white paw was hovering in front of her face. She looked up at the source - Asriel in all his glory, with a soft smile and kind eyes. Dressed in a suit and tie, with lilac cufflinks that were embroidered with the same symbol on the letter. Lilac undershirt pulled the whole outfit together. Taking his hand she was pulled to sit next to him.

"I'm so glad you could make it, Frisk the Scientist."

She thought about that sentence, then smiled. Not like she had much of a choice.

His laughter tinkled in her ears, calming her quickly. Something in the back of her mind found that peculiar. "I apologize for the rough treatment. They are never ones for subtleties." He cleared his throat and pointed to each one. "Greater Dog, Doggo, Dogaressa and Dogamy." Each one perked an ear as their names were called. "And of course this little guy!" He held up a small white dog and nuzzled the nose of it with his snout. The small white dog yipped and winked at Frisk.

He looked her over, seeing her more confused than amused, he laughed again and smiled brightly at her. "Relax. We're only going to a meet and greet for the media!"

She nodded and settled into her seat, staring forward as the limo rolled forward. Something about the way he smiled too kindly, and about the whole thing in general, unsettled her.

...

The table seemed to vibrate as the tall skeleton's sight scanned through the audience.

"NYEHEHEHEHEHHEHEHEEHEHEHEEEEHHHHH-"

A scaley hand slammed down on the table, causing the tall skeleton to turn in attention. A single yellow eye bore into the skeleton.

"Will ya CALM DOWN?!" She snapped, her fiery red hair out of its usual ponytail, the natural waves coming out in full. They both wore their soldier outfits, with medals of rank and honors pinned in pride. The fish lady naturally had more than her neighbor, but he still held a good few of his own.

"...NERVOUS UNDYNE?" He grinned knowingly, causing her to punch him on the arm.

"No! Of course not bonehead!" She huffed and leaned back unlady-like in her seat, crossing her arms and glaring away from him. "Done too many of these to GET nervous anymore!" her one eye closed, the other covered by a large black patch.

Not necessarily blind in that eye, though with it exposed her coordination was halved. She learned to cover it years ago, so that she would be more efficient in battle. She chuckled to herself at how right she was, like always.

"You're just throwing me off, with all your annoying scatting, and it's kinda pissing me off."

A high-pitched laugh came from him, which she ignored for the most part. Him standing up and almost throwing the table off stage caused her to fling herself towards the table and keep it from falling over. "DO NOT WORRY UNDYNE, FOR I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WILL NOT EMBARRASS YOU!" A few sparkled shined in the overhead lights, and his expression was that of a heroic warrior on a quest.

Undyne stared at him lamely with a lidded eye, grabbing him by the back of the shirt and forcing him to sit. "Seriously, cram it. Sir Agore and Lady Toriel are gonna take their seats with their runt, and I need you to cool your jets!" She whispered into his earhole.

Papyrus nodded, and was about as cooled down as a person of his kind could be, when a familiar short skeleton was spotted. He practically did a twirl and backflip in midair, and was about to throw himself out of his seat to go greet his older brother when he was grabbed in mid-air and slammed back into his seat. She had saved the table once more, though the fellow monster soldiers at the table were on the verge of tearing the duo a new one.

"I will tape you to this chair so help me bonehead!"

A yellow form caught her attention from the corner of her eye, causing her to turn to look.

A small curvy yellow reptile in an indigo dress that had a star pattern printed over it had made her way to sit next to the small skeleton. She adjusted her large round glasses, and seemed to gush at Undyne when their eyes met. She smiled into her hand, trying to block her buck teeth from sight, as she waved in a small way at the fish woman.

A green blush sat on Undyne, and she waved back at Alphys in a nervous way. Her heart pattered whenever she saw the golden woman.

A nudge from Papyrus brought Undyne out of her state, and she looked at the skeleton...who seemed to be wiggling his brows at her. Her green blush grew at the insinuation, and she nearly beat him to a pulp on the spot.

The outcome of it was Papyrus with a large bandage on his skull, waving frantically at Sans from across the hall until he got a response. Undyne just leaned back in her seat with crossed arms and a scowl on her face.

Sans chuckled, leaning back in his seat next to Alphys. He gave his brother a small wave and then stuffed his hand into his pocket. All the world did as it always did, but in this moment he was here for his brother. Sure, he could knock two birds with one stone and also provide support for his friend and her lover. But ultimately at the end of the day he wouldn't be within a ten block radius of a known location the goat family was in unless Pappy asked him to be.

His grin tightened.

The damned goat family. Sure, they seemed sweet enough of a family. They were a picture perfect standard family. A mom, a dad, and a kid. They were practically the icon for the monsters. Perfect and up to human standards.

His whites faded to a dull grey.

They were too perfect. They always had a smile to them that, although full of warmth and love, never reached their eyes. Sans always had an ear to the underworkings of high-class families. Families that his brother would eventually be caught up in. The Dreemurs were his most recent wind to listen in on, and he didn't like what the wind whispered one bit.

Drug rings, drug lord's, dealings with the mafia, murders of people that didn't fit their tight plans, distortions and bendings of the laws to get what they thought was theirs, saying it was for the good of monsterkind when they were caught (however rarely that was).

His jaw clenched and his hands gripped and ungripped as he noticed the Dreemurs file in with Asriel's plus one.

Hopefully the kid caught on quick and made the littlest Dreemur uninterested.

…

Two pairs of maroon eyes cut through her with something between disinterest and anger. Frisk glanced at the two tall goat monsters that stared her down on the other side of Asriel.

When her eyes met with Mrs. Dreemur her eyes flickered instantly from discontent to kindness and love. Stretching a smile tight across her maw she pandered to the human girl. "My child, it is grand that you could make it. Asriel has been going on about you for weeks now. I honestly could have sworn he said something about you being a monster like us though." She laughed, her laugh holding the same twinkle her sons held.

It brought her great ease, as her body relaxed and her mind went into a fogged state. She snapped from it instantly once the laugh settled. Dread started to grip at the corners on her heart.

A boisterous laugh came from Mr. Dreemur as his hand gripped his wife's arm gently. His voice sounded like deep bells that resonated through her soul, forcing her nerves to become unwound. "That's right my dear, I could have sworn that Asriel had said something about you being a monster. Hmmm." His voice hummed, a hidden hint aimed at Frisk. His eyes flashed with amusement once he thought she wasn't looking. But she saw him in her state.

Asriel laughed off his parents and gripped Frisk's hand under the table. A chill went down her spine as his fingers laced with hers. They were too big for her grip, and were pushing her fingers out of their joints slightly. She bit the inside of her lip as she stared at Asriel. "Mom, dad, I told you that she wasn't human. Besides, wouldn't it be a great idea to show that human and monster relationships are strong?"

The two parents shot each other glances, and as if on a silent agreement they fawned over their only son. "Of course Asriel." she cooed, though the sweet tone never reached her eyes. "We'll let you keep your pet for the night." She laughed.

"Mom!" Asriel groaned. Mother and son laughed, the twinkles from their voices filled Frisk with a false sense of security.

Dread dug through her as Asriel gripped her hand tighter.

…

Each soldier was awarded a medal from Mr. Dreemur, and Toriel beamed at her husband's speech of how important it was for their soldiers to make it home safely. That they were fighting the good fight for monsterkind. Asriel was beaming just as much as his mother.

Frisk was sitting there stiffly, glancing around from her position that was faced towards Asgore. Sweat had formed at the tense air and insinuations that Toriel had shot at her.

How was she going to get out of this? How how how how-

A small skeleton, who was shooting her stares the whole night, had finally caught her attention. His grin was strained, and he seemed nervous about something.

Ever so slightly she turned her head, her eyes fully on him, and he seemed relieved. The white pinpoints flickered between her and Asriel, and she clenched her jaw in response.

A silent conversation went on between them.

:You need to get out of there kid:

~I can't~

Sans brows furrowed somehow. :What?:

~I can't.~ She snorted hot air through her nose, causing Asriel to shoot her a concerned look. She just smiled and gripped his hand, causing him to smile and turn back to his father. Frisk looked back at Sans and mouthed as subtly as possible. ~H.A.N.D.~

San's mouth made a small 'o' shape, before grunting and turning away.

Frisks lips tightened as she looked at him, then, with an internal sigh, turned back to the long winded speech.

…

People started filing out, as soldiers stood around the large room talking with those interested enough to hear war stories. Undyne had a large crowd around her as she vividly retold a story that involved a mass amount of explosions. She held the golden reptile close to her as she enacted the action with her free arm.

Papyrus was talking vividly to his brother, who kept shooting the human small glances to see if she was doing alright.

Frisk, all the while, was being held close to Asriel as he made his way around with his parents. Asriel introduced his human plus one to the many soldiers, to the media that had been filming the whole event, and then to those in the same ranks as his family.

Toriel and Asgore seemed less and less thrilled with the whole thing, though kept their standard smiles plastered on.

The media would have a field day with this.

Finally they made it to Undyne, and Alphys caught sight of Frisk immediately. "Frisk!" She cheered and pushed away from Undyne, who took notice immediately. Undyne furrowed her brows at the human, and noticed how lively Alphys was. Huh, a friend of Alphys. Undyne grinned in pride for her girlfriend. Alphys was making friends! How awesome!

Frisk smiled at Alphys and pulled away from a slightly hurt Asriel. "Alphys! I was hoping to get to talk to you!" She puttered over to her friend. Asriel's smile was gone, and his maroon eyes flashed red.

Before Asriel could follow after he was intervened by Undyne. He shot her a look for her to get out of his way, which caused her to laugh. He scowled. Undyne turned to Mr. and Mrs. Dreemur, who were studying her. "Greetings sir and ma'am, but I hope it won't be too much of a bother to steal the Ambassador's date for a second or two." Asgore and Toriel shot each other glances. She laughed and scratched the back of her scaly neck. "Ya see, I hardly ever get to see my girlfriend this happy, and I bet you two wish to talk to your son without a human in earshot." She grinned widely, innocently, nervously.

She studied the irked son and the masked parents. She tensed.

She knew what they were capable of. If it was up to her she would give the human up willingly, but Alphys was another story completely. If they so much went to hurt her-

"Fine." Asgore chimed, his eyes closing as a large smile spread across him.

Asriel snapped his attention to Asgore, then Toriel. "What? But...but you said-"

"Son, we need to speak with you." Toriel said sweetly, shooting a glance at Undyne. Every nerve in her tensed at the goat mother's stare. She then laughed, the twinkle trying to weave into the fish lady without affect. Toriel's smile faltered, her sight slicing through Undyne like a knife. She then turned to Asriel and gripped him by the arm. "Do not worry yourself with the ways of humans, there is a lovely goat girl that we think would be more your speed, my son." She laughed again, and dragged her furious son away.

"Besides, we need to talk business." Asgore said, sending a glance back to Undyne before they disappeared from sight.

Her breath stuttered as she clenched and unclenched her hands. She felt lightheaded, which was odd for Undyne. Taking another deep breath her gills flexed as the fins on the sides of her face stretched. Thankfully Asgore and Toriel had no interest in the human. They probably had fixed their son up with an arranged relationship. Most likely a marriage.

This was probably Asriel's way of stretching his independence though. It wasn't like the old days where they could force a kid to do as they wished for the sake of family relationships.

Undyne sent a glance to her girlfriend and the human she had saved. She could understand where the Dreemurs came from though. Humans were never to be trusted. No matter how sweet their smiles were and how kind they acted. It was always a ploy. A bitter smile rested on Undyne.

She was caught off guard instantly as the taller skeleton, who had a good foot on her, tackled her and picked her up.

"THAT WAS AMAZING UNDYNE!" he screamed into her ear, causing her to shudder.

"What are you on about bonehead?"

"THE WAY YOU SAVED THE HUMAN!"

Undyne shoved Papyrus away from herself and scolded him. "Quiet bonehead!"

"ARE YOU AFRAID YOUR REPUTATION WILL GET SQUANDERED?!"

Undyne took in a deep breath as she felt three pairs of eyes fall on her, from the direction of the goat family. She took in his expression, and quickly laughed it off. "FWUHUHUHUHUUU~ You are so funny bonehead! My reputation can't be squandered BECAUSE I'M ALREADY SO AWESOME!" A small crowd formed around the familiar monsters, which the two over actors enacted an amazing story of their time on the field. The three pairs of eyes wandered off her, and she stilled her beating soul.

Away from the chaos three friends sat at a table. Frisk took in shaky breaths as she looked over her hand, still feeling the ghost of a tight furred grip. Alphys pushed away her excitement for her girlfriend and tended to the shaken human.

Sans stared at the two, his arms crossed behind his skull and one leg crossed over the other as he sunk further back into his seat.

"Thank you for pulling me away from them Alphys." Frisk stuttered. She laughed nervously and looked at the reptile and skeleton. "I could have sworn that they would have eaten me up if I said the wrong thing."

"They are carnivores." Sans received flat, amused stares, and he looked at them with one eye open. "Tough crowd." he hummed.

Alphys puffed out her cheeks at the comedian, then turned back to Frisk. "Why didn't you say no to the invite?" She almost demanded.

Frisk swallowed hard, and chuckled nervously. "He didn't really give me much of a choice…"

Sans glanced towards the three goats, and noticed a pair of red glowing eyes from the youngest were fixed on Frisk. He swallowed hard at the intent behind them. He felt his eye flicker blue and the grip resting against his skull tighten. Goat boy was gonna have a bad time if he kept pressing his luck. He glanced towards Papyrus, and his grin lessened. Could he risk it though?

Alphys, taking note of the flickering blue, laughed and pulled Frisk to stand. "How about w-we all g-go back to my place a-and watch s-s-some Mew Mew? I j-ust got the s-second one in, and i-it's a trainwreck!" She laughed at the memory of it. Frisk nodded, then glanced back in the direction of the trio of goats.

They were openly ominous towards her, yet no one else.

Frisk felt herself want to run away, and she almost melted into the ground if not for the iron grip of Alphys. Alphys tittered as she her eyes flittered along a thought, not really looking at anything. The human groaned before Alphys' eyes stopped. She looked at Frisk, and offered her a kind smile.

"He's like a brother to you." Frisk hummed in confusion. Alphys nodded, glancing at Asriel. "His parents will eat that up. Jump on that immediately." She turned to Frisk, worry deep in her eyes. "Say you're in love with your work, that you have no time for anything else." She gripped Frisks arms to steady her.

Frisk slowly glanced at Sans, who seemed to be thinking over the whole thing. He tapped his finger to his jaw, and hummed deeply. Slowly, he nodded in approval. "Only way to let him down easily." He gave Frisk a lazy grin, even though it was tight on the corners.

Either his parents would insist on that being the case, or Asriel would be too stubborn and get his latest human interest killed.

She released a stuttered breath, and stiffly nodded. Alphys shook Frisk slightly, shaking her out of her fear. Frisk sighed and nodded. "Y-you can d-do it!" She grinned, causing Frisk to smile. Sans gave her a thumbs up and away she wandered towards the Dreemur family.

…

Toriel smiled at a passing group of monsters and turned sharp eyes to her kin. Asgore laughed and waved at a group of soldiers, his grip on his son tightened. The youngest winced as he glowered at them.

There was a tightness in the air that usually came on nights like these.

Toriel shook her head at the memories of all the human infatuations her son had. He always seemed to seek out the worst of the race. She eyed the latest venture and sighed internally. It wasn't anything personal, she just didn't want to see her bloodline pitter out into an unresolved nothingness just for the whims of someone who would never even live a fraction of his lifespan.

Her gaze hardened at the idea of her child going through most of his life without a life mate. She took in the trio across the room - how odd a human, reptile, and skeleton all seem to go together. Her jaw clenched. That was not a life for her son.

He deserved more than a mere human child.

She felt eyes from around the room wander to them, and she laughed into the back of her hand like her son had said the best pun in the world. The loud laughter calmed those prying eyes instantly, and she was thankful for her family's abilities.

Asriel perked up, and the two parents noticed. They stiffened at the approaching human. Dark thoughts wandered through Asgore, unknown to his son.

"Frisk! I thought you might have been taken away from me!" He said, a fear held in his voice that didn't go unnoticed to the two goat parents. Apparently to the human as well, as she seemed to stiffen. Their eyes bore into her, and she laughed as least nervously as possible.

Frisk laughed for a little too long, before clearing her throat and giving Asriel her sweetest smile. Toriel's sight narrowed on her. Ready to strike her down if her words were too hurtful.

The human hummed. "Ah...nope!" She forced a grin, but a grin was a grin as Asriel's tail shook frantically. She hummed again, her thumbs twiddling. Toriel and Asgore shared a look, then turned back to the young girl. The weight of the situation taking its toll on her. Another cleared throat. "This was a great night, and I do appreciate the invitation-"

"Y-you're not leaving so soon, are you?!" She flinched as her arms were gripped tightly. Panic was in his voice, and she nearly choked on fear. Toriel's eyes flickered. Asgore took note of the tense stance the short skeleton and yellow reptile took, and grinned as if there was nothing to worry about. They forced themselves to settle.

Frisk bit her lip, and Toriel took note of the red stain. "I hate to, but I need to check on my experiments. They need to be checked on in three hour increments." She stated, her tone becoming calculated, and a small smile grew on Toriel. Asriel said something about her being a scientist. Smart girl.

A small whimper fell from Asriel, his nails biting into her flesh. "Those things can wait. You're out with me! Stay with me please!" He pleaded, and Asgore thanked whatever god was on their side that the cameras weren't on them.

Frisk sent Asgore a pleading look, and thankfully he was feeling charitable. He rested a large paw on his lithe son. "My boy, I think it is time we let the lovely lady get back to her toys."

"NO!" He snapped, and cameras snapped to the outburst.

Asgore took note of the ten companies that had put their camera men in tonight's activities. Some were on the Dreemurs side, but most weren't. Things were delicate now, and the three aside from the dramatic goat boy had to play their parts perfectly. He sent a glance at the young human. She seemed to realize the severity of the situation as well, but for other reasons.

Frisk took in a shaky breath, and rested her hand on the side of Asriel's face. His dilated pupils zeroed in on her, and with another shaky breath she beamed at him.

"It has been a lot of fun, getting to spend time with you and your family, getting to know them and how wonderful they are." Her voice didn't even stutter at the obvious lie. Toriel smiled in an almost prideful way. He perked up at her sweet words. "But," Asriel tensed, "I am married to my work." She said cooly, and he bit his lip. He looked away from her, contemplating his words.

"You can work for our scientists!" He perked up, his eyes large and hopeful. Her smile strained for a second. "Yeah! I can come see you every day! We can hang out in between experiments, and I don't even care that you're dedicated to your work! We can spend time together!" He said, his tone desperate, and her heart twinged at the pain behind his words.

His life must be hard. He must be so lonely.

She almost fell for the offer, wanting him to have someone to spend time with more than what was best for her own well being. Her heart went out to him, but then as the dual glare rested on her once more she swallowed hard and stuck to her plan.

"I still have so much to learn. And you know that it would be cruel to tear someone from their home." He sighed and she looked at him sadly. He held her close.

"I...I know…I just...really like you…"

She held the tall goat boy close to her. "I like you too," He held his breath, "you're the best brother one could ever ask for."

The only thing that held him together was her grip. She glanced at the two parents, who sent her approving stares.

He only responded in a shuddered breath as he was pulled away by his father. Frisk gave a small smile as she saw the look of defeat in Asriels eyes. She gripped his hand, causing him to come out of his depression, if only a bit. "And hey, we can still meet up at Muffets." She beamed at him. He only responded in a broken smile and was pulled away from the scene.

Toriel stayed behind and glanced around, as cameras wandered elsewhere. She then snapped her attention to the human girl, who responded with a nervous smile. Frisk was rewarded with a genuine smile that reached the goat woman's eyes, and with that she followed her husband and broken son.

 _Maybe if she was a monster like us, she would be able to make my son truly happy_ were Toriels thoughts as she disappeared.

…

There were many complaints of noise in the apartment complex, as four monsters and a human laughed and chatted loudly into the late hours of the night.

Mostly it came from a rambunctious duo of a tall skeleton and a fish woman, who almost burned the apartment down from their odd attempts at s'mores and told over-exaggerated stories. Papyrus would end up using Sans as a prop, to demonstrate how well weapons fired and what angle they came at their ship. Sans always seemed to land on something soft thankfully - mostly the couch but sometimes the other occupants of the small apartment. Most of the time though Papyrus would fling around Sans as a sign of affection. Sans took it in good stride and would belt out puns if Papyrus started to get too carried away. That resulted in Papyrus screaming dial tone and flailing around.

Undyne would always roughhouse with Papyrus when they came to a disagreement on how the stories actually went, almost throwing him out of the apartment. They actually got noise complaints when that started happening.

Papyrus instantly took to Frisk, and ended up holding onto her throughout the rest of the night. She felt uncomfortable about the stranger-quickly-becoming-besties holding onto some part of her, but Papyrus denied all uncomfortable notions.

"HOW CAN ONE BE UNCOMFORTABLE AROUND THE GREAT PAPYRUS?! I MEAN YOU NO HARM TINY HUMAN, YOU MERELY REMIND ME OF MY STUFFED BEAR I LEFT AT BASE."

She puffed her cheeks out at the idea of it, in which she was only cuddled harder. She quickly resigned herself to this being her life now as she was in the death grip of Papyrus.

The five friends ended up curled up in the living room, and each fell asleep to the sounds of Alphys' favorite anime.

 **...**

 **So I kinda threw a lot at you guys with this chapter. The dog guards, the Dreemur family and its dark intentions, Undyne and Papyrus, and of course Asriel and his family dynamic. I don't blame the guy though, if my parents were shady I'd be a little unwound in their presence as well.**

 **Such a dramatic chapter I think Mettaton might be a little proud of me.**

 **Please review!**


	8. Coffee and Conversations

**Hey guys, so I was finally able to get this chapter done. I've been dealing with something not quite like writers block, but more of not getting my words down right. I had to rewrite parts of this chapter multiple times until I felt comfortable enough to continue. So, because of that, it ended up being a little longer than usual.**

 **I gotta say though, you guys fill me with so much determination to write this thing. 19 followers and 15 favorites on this story, and I feel so blessed having all of you show as much interest as there is. You guys are my muses for this, and you keep me wanting to write for you. My gratitude can only be shown so much you know? (Also, 15hundred+ views on this story? Oh gosh you all humble me!)**

 **So, I hope that I can keep making this story better and better for everyone! Also, I think we're just on the brink of a story shift, and I might have to change the genre of this story as well as the rating of it because of it. So I hope that it doesn't shake people too much as we make the transition. Honestly, when I first started this story, I had no idea what rating or genre I should give this. This story is ever evolving it seems.**

 **Replies:**

 **Kazriel: *includes all the things we talked about over pm* and also, I'm really glad that, even though our tastes differ, that you're sticking around with this. I truly appreciate that.**

 **MachUPB: Thank you! I wanted to try and throw out a different perspective on the Dreemurs into the pile of ideas that is Undertale, so I'm glad that I could make them as layered as I intended. They seem like they would be very layered and intense if they never went underground and Asriel had never died.**

 **Lunar Loon: Well here you go~**

 **hooooooo boi: Aah thank you! Even if they aren't words I still appreciate squawks and inaudible sounds. You're welcome!**

 **Anywhoogle, onto the chapter! I do not own Undertale, all rights belong to the fabulous Toby Fox~**

 **...**

There was a comfortable warmth that surrounded her. Her nerves spiked in a pleasant way as her senses heightened at the levels of warmth around her. She could roll around in it for weeks and not get tired of being wrapped in the comfort of it. Her soul hummed in happiness, and she sighed - which echoed throughout the hazed room of deep blues and purples.

She was somewhere between the void and dreams, which was always kind to her when she visited.

A soft red glowed on her expressions at a lower angle, and she could look into the small red heart. The colors of this in between place pulsed along with her soul, lines of orange slowly dripping down, in and out of existence, and strummed in tune with her heartbeat.

Something similar to her sight took in the stats that sat with the red heart, and she hummed to herself happily. Green ripples went through the blues and purples from the sound of her voice, reacting from the echo of it.

They were all her starting stats. What she felt was a smile spread on her supposed face. She was doing great this time around. She was going to progress further than she had, and it wasn't even the original time line. An ice blue line arched through this in between place as a bitter pang resonated in her. Red bloomed from the heart and reached out to her, curling to comfort her.

Determination resonated in her being as she floated in this cosmos.

A separate entity cleared their throat, causing her to look up. Colors dripped away from this realm, as the void reached out to her and gripped her tight.

A man with a white face and a black suit that had hard white lines to distinguish himself from the rest of the void. His white face had two black holes where eyes should be, with two lines that stretched along his face in opposite directions.

The man who talks with hands.

His two white hands came out from behind him and, in a smooth gesture, pointed to one of his wrists. The finger that pointed jerked twice, as if tapping the glass of a watch.

They shot each other knowing, kind smiles, as she nodded.

"I know Gaster."

Her words came out in bubbles, like she was caught underwater. There were no sounds.

His black grin tightened in a sweet, knowing way.

With a single nod her essence was dragged upwards, her red soul already where it should be in her.

Suddenly white filled her senses.

One eye snapped open, the other being buried into the belly of a flat pillow, and Alphys sleep face was all Frisk could see in the darkness of night. A loud, nazily snore sounded throatily, and drool dripped down the corner of her mouth, making a puddle that was almost within reach of Frisk.

With a yawn on the edge of her Frisk sat up and stretched largely. Something rolled off her with a loud thud, causing her to focus on the source. She gave a humored smile as she stared down at the long skeleton who had acted as a sort of blanket for the human throughout the night.

Perpendicular to her, he was now sprawled out across her legs, snoring and muttering 'nyeheheh' quietly in his sleep. Thankfully a blanket was laid between them, otherwise she probably would have been more livid in her observations. She looked around, taking note of Alphys practically laying on top of her, Undyne gripping Alphys' long tail and cuddling with it.

Frisk put her hand to her mouth, trying to push back a soft chuckle from leaving her.

She noticed one was missing…

A soft hum from the balcony barely caught her attention. She nibbled at her lip, trying to decide whether it was right of her to investigate. She glanced at her skeletal anchor. Or whether she could.

With a quick movement she was free and on her feet. Taking joy in a full-body stretch she felt her joints pop into place and her muscles tighten. Slumping after the act she shuffled into the kitchen.

A deep inhale, and the warm smell of the dark brew called to her from the metal pot. Happily she took a small cup as needed. The neon of the microwaves clock stated

4:15am

and she hummed, pleased with herself.

She never slept in that late on her first attempt.

Maybe on the third or fourth after waking up from rough nightmares, but this was some sort of record for her.

She never felt better.

Pushing the glass door, stepping through, and then closing it behind her, she joined the missing company at the balcony.

He seemed different without the trademark blue jacket. Like he was someone else entirely. Or maybe he was just his real self, and maybe the jacket was a way for him to hide?

She took her spot next to him as she gripped her mug. Autumn was gripping at the edges of the summer heat Ebott was experiencing, which made the nights take on a chill that trailed after the settled heat of the day. It wasn't uncomfortable, only telling of things to come.

Something gripped at her heart as the haze of dreamland winked at her from the corners of her mind. Oh well, dreams never were important. She always seemed to forget them if she didn't write them down immediately. Something tugged at her to talk to the professor before the start of next class though.

Blinking such thoughts away her eyes studied the skeleton next to her.

His eyes were black from thought, the usual white dots gone. A small smile rested on her lips as she took in his stance. He was lost in his own world as he usually was this time of night. He would stop replying to her around this time, and start back up in a couple hours, and it was comforting to see that in person.

She hummed a laugh to herself, causing him to jerk back to reality. Nibbling on her lip again she turned back to the darkness that hung comfortably around them. Not that it was too dark - the street lights and the echoes of civilization made sure of that.

Frisk shrugged off his stare on her, only meeting it in a sideways glance when he cleared his throat.

"Hey kid." He hummed, more for himself than her.

His stance was tense, as he gripped the coffee mug that still steamed. Seemed fresh.

She smiled into her own mug, taking a sip of the hot liquid.

A boney finger scratched at his cheekbone, and he suddenly felt naked without his jacket.

Brows furrowed at the heavy tension in the air, like something was sitting just out of reach of either of them. A clearing of the throat caused him to glance at her. Leaning against the railing she hummed at him. "Sans, come on, we talked about this." She stated lamely, causing him to blush a faint blue. His coffee mug was suddenly a fascinating thing for him to examine. She nudged his bare foot with her own, resting hers on his and pressing it down as if to trap him. "You could have woken me up, it's more direct than texting."

He gave her a disgruntled look and tried to pull his foot away, to no avail.

She sighed again and leaned her back against the railing, turned fully to him. "Was it the dream with the man that talks with hands again?" She stated, causing him to stiffen.

He would have thrown her off the balcony if it wasn't any real danger. He was too tired to use his magic, and he didn't want to use up what he had so early in the day. Not before coffee. So it was no use to react that way. He only just grunted and looked away from her.

Her smile dropped and was replaced by a neutral acknowledgment.

The man who talked with hands was apparently a thing for Sans for years. Yet, whenever he would remember the rough parts of his dreams Sans could never put a face to the tall stranger that plagued him.

Frisk's heart weighed heavy over the fact she knew. Not always did she know, but she remembered his face, and when she encountered Gaster before the semester started, it clicked. Something subconscious in her screamed that he was the man who hid in the subconscious lining of her mind.

Her head would always hurt at the convolutedness of it.

She saw the save star and the reset button. She could use them. That had been a thing for her since she was ten, and she learned early that it was something you didn't talk about. The man that spoke with hands was always on the edge of her consciousness, and when she encountered him in real life he acted like he knew her. She even told him of the reasoning behind applying to the college he worked at - she had read up on his studies and how revered he was in the field of scientific engineering, and his studies on time manipulations, and applied to that college specifically to learn under him - and he did not seem surprised at all. Like he knew her reasons, and that what she could see were in fact real and not some hallucinations of a possibly crazy girl.

He told her those that could see the star and box had the ability to reset, and that this was not her first runthrough if that was the case.

" _Things happen for a reason, dear Frisk." Gaster spoke to her calmly, a different tone bubbling on the fringes of his words as his hands seemed to move of their own accord. He leaned closer to her as they chatted at a small cafe table. "Time is an odd thing, something those in our fields realize after some time." He chuckled to himself. He straightened up as his eyes fluttered, never focusing on one thing in particular. "People in our lives come and go, and yet those that are meant to find you end up finding you. Even the bad ones." His eyes focused on something at that statement, and then turned to her._

 _She always wondered what his eyes saw that hers could not._

 _He just gave her a kind smile at her curiosity, as if knowing what she thought. "Broken pieces of timelines that we could not save or could not bring to completion." Her brows furrowed at that, to which he just shook his head as if addressing a child. "Pay that no mind." He hummed. His eyes snapped back to her once more. "If you are to be joining my class in the fall, which you seem determined of, I must tell you one thing."_

 _She nodded dumbly, the energy of the universe flowing off of the fractured skeleton across from her._

 _His grin widened as his eyes flashed, one cobalt blue and the other traffic-cone orange, as he held a boney finger to his teeth. "If one speaks of 'the man who talks with hands', which I'm sure will become a thing this line, spare him your knowledge of that."_

 _Gradually she agreed._

And she kept her promise.

There was a moment of silence as she stared at the lost skeleton next to her. Solemnly, she set her mug down on the railing which was wide enough for it, and draped her arms around the shoulders of Sans. He stiffened from the kindness of it, but he relented and patted her arm. Slowly an arm snaked around her waist as a reply. There they held each other, both lost in their own ways. She would help him out as best she could though, because maybe the blind leading the blind wasn't such a bad thing.

She just wished that things weren't so confusing. She was caught in a haze and no matter how hard she shined the light she couldn't break through.

…

Loud chatter filled the small apartment as the smell of waffles and breakfast spaghetti filled the air in comforting ways. Frisk came to as she felt the breeze of the early morning on her, and a comfortable smile rose from her. Curled up on the balcony couch - made from metal and flimsy fabric - she felt a blanket draped over her.

A soft snore alerted her to the gentle grip that was held to her waist. She took note of the short skeleton without his trademark blue, snoring and gently gripping her. She had ended up using him as a sort of pillow some time in the early morning. They didn't really talk after she came out to see him, and it was kinda funny to her how they both fell asleep pretty easy.

Clattering from inside caused her to sit up. Sans snorted and cracked an eye open at Frisk, only to close it again and pull his arm away from her.

"OH FRISK THE HUMAN, I SEE YOU HAVE RISEN FROM YOUR DEEP SLUMBER!" Papyrus practically screamed at her. She chuckled and pushed herself up, her joints popping as she opened the now screen door. She missed the warm smile that rested on Sans.

Shuffling inside she blinked slowly at the two in the kitchen, and turned her head to the sound of running water - a shower from the sounds of it. With a loud yawn she stretched her arms wide over herself, holding her breath as her muscles tensed in a pleasurable way. A long groan slithered through her teeth as she shivered from the act. Then, suddenly, she dropped her arms to her side and shuffled into the small kitchen that was already overflowing with just two occupants.

Undyne and Papyrus, still in their previous night's clothing, were singing off key as they prepped food for the five of them.

Frisk ducked as Papyrus went sailing over her; thankfully he landed on the abused couch and then fell to the floor with a loud thud. "NYEH!" he peaked his head over the couch, rubbing the back of his skull with one eye open. Undyne pointed a large spatula at Papyrus in an over-exaggerated Captain Morgan stance, grease from the utensil dripping at Frisks bare feet.

"YOU SANG THAT ALL WRONG! IT'S SUPPOSED TO START WITH THE 'we must be swift as a coursing river'," she did a quick hum of the tune for the background of the song. "NOT 'we must be the force of the great typhoon'! Shang is right! I WILL HAVE TO MAKE A MAN OUT OF YOU!" she snapped, waving her spatula at Papyrus and getting a piece of egg on Frisks cheek.

Frisk just sighed and stepped under the outstretched arm, making her way to the fresh coffee pot, when she was face to face with the short skeleton from outside. She gawked at him as he sent her a goofy grin. "Got the last of the pot. Sorry kiddo." He took a long loud sip of his coffee, his sockets narrowing at her. She just laughed and shook her head, bumping him out of the way with her hip as she dug through Alphys' kitchen for the makings of a new pot.

"OH, BUT UNDYNE, I FEAR THAT YOU ARE THE WRONG ONE!" Papyrus challenged, and the two short individuals chuckled to themselves.

"AS IF BONEHEAD!" Undyne lunged out of the kitchen, quick to abandon the large breakfast she was making. Frisk laughed, abandoning her current quest as she tended to the breakfast that was starting to smoke. Sans shook his head as he watched Papyrus and Undyne roughhouse in the small living room. He set out to make a new pot of coffee, and soon the two of them worked to finish off making breakfast.

Frisk laughed as she caught Sans pulling down some waffle batter with the aid of blue magic. He grinned as he flicked his wrists to gather all the items needed. Soon waffles started piling up as eggs were being finished with. She grinned at him. "Aren't you feeling generous this morning, Mr. NeverCooksForAnyone." she stuck out her tongue and he only shrugged at her. His large grin reaching his eyes.

As if on cue, Alphys padded out from the bathroom in damp pajamas, blinking at the chaos and oddness of everything. Expectantly, Undyne and Papyrus were throwing each other around the small apartment. She thanked her lucky stars that nothing was broken or damaged - she would have talked Undyne's fin off if one of her rare figures was destroyed. The odd part of it though was Frisk was cooking in her kitchen, and she got Sans to help her out with it! Pushing her glasses up the bridge of her snout, Alphys smiled, unsure, and went to her room to change into something proper for the day without saying a word to anyone.

…

The day had passed by in a whirl of excitement. Frisk had never really had a solid group of friends throughout her life. She had always had one or two good friends that she would hang out on a regular basis, but never more than that. She was both excited and overwhelmed that four people actually wanted to spend time with her.

Undyne she wasn't entirely sure with, since Frisk would notice the glares Undyne sent her way when Undyne thought she wasn't looking, or that anyone else wasn't looking. Frisk noticed though, and her heart was heavy by the caution that the tall fish woman gave her. She seemed to warm up to her after a bit though, but it hadn't quelled the wariness.

Frisk was sure that Undyne was only treating her that way for the same reason Sans treated her that way at first, and if she could make friends with the distant skeleton then she was sure she could make friends with the tall woman that had anger issues.

So that's why, when Undyne had stated that Frisk should go grab them some food and drink from that spider shop down the street, she jumped at the opportunity. She was the odd creature out, a newcomer compared to the four that had been with each other since high school. Possibly earlier, but that was as early as Frisk had heard stories of.

Papyrus was adamant about joining Frisk, saying it would be a way him to get to know the new friend, but Undyne denied him that. Frisk felt Undyne's hawk eye follow her, even outside the closed door.

Undynes eye turned to the three occupants in the room, barely skimming over Papyrus and focused in mainly on Sans. There was a sort of nonverbal communication between them, resulting in Sans' blue eye flashing in distaste.

"Getting soft on me chuckles. Thought you didn't want anything to do with humans, comedian." she said in almost a warning. She leaned back into the couch next to Alphys, staring at the short skeleton who was settled into a rolling chair with no arms.

Sans sneered at the nicknames, the implications of them stabbing into him. "Good to talk to you too 'Dyne. Glad to know you've been keeping an eye out for my bro-bro." He grinned at her sneer. "Too bad you can't use the other."

Undyne nearly lunged out from her seat at him, being held back by Papyrus and sat down hard by him. She scoffed at him and crossed her arms, her foot tapping loudly against the floor. Alphys sent a tense glance towards Sans and Undyne, resting a hand on her girlfriends upper arm. Undyne shot Alphys a soft glance, before blowing a strand of red away from her face. "You promised me a human wouldn't get close to someone I care about as long as I looked after bonehead." she jerked her head towards Papyrus.

Alphys and Papyrus glanced at each other, sighing helplessly and watching from the sidelines of the intense conversation between the two strong-willed monsters. "SHALL I MAKE US TEA WHILE WE WAIT FOR THE HUMAN TO RETURN, ALPHYS?" Papyrus asked, making his way to the kitchen.

"Y-yes, thank you Pa-papyrus." she kept her eyes on Undyne as she pushed her glasses upwards.

It's not that Undyne and Sans hated each other, they just have always been at odds with each other. They only ever really communicated because people close to them interacted with the other. Undyne disliked Sans attitude towards life, and Sans disliked Undynes way of expressing herself. They had the ability to work well as a team, as shown whenever Papyrus had gotten in a bad spot because of his naivety, or whenever Alphys had pulled herself into a self-destructive path in high school.

Heck, they even had been friends at one point, when Sans had more ambition in his life, but that was a lifetime ago, and now the air would be tense and destructive whenever they were in the same room as each other, without distraction, for more than five minutes. It would cause Alphys to hide in herself and watch from a safe distance, and Papyrus would have to distract himself as the 'adults' talked amongst themselves about 'grown up things'.

Sans rolled his eyes at Undyne. "'Dyne, you're acting like the kid is the spawn of hell, when clearly she was with us just fine." He gestured to the house, to the blanket pile that sat at the foot of the couch, and then to her and Alphys. "Kid ain't gonna hurt anyone." He stuffed his hand back into his jacket, retrieved hours ago once breakfast was over with.

Undyne sneered and leaned forward, almost lunging at Sans. "Yeah, she may not have hurt anyone, Sans, but she could!"

Sans sneered through his grin, his eyes going black. "If you've got such shit belief in my abilities fishface, then why even ask me for help in the first place?" This caused Undyne to snort and lean back, flopping against the back of the couch and digging her heel into the woodwork below the skin of it. His whites came back and they wandered to Alphys, who was staring at him with concern, as she always did at these weird welcome home parties. "Further more, do you believe in your girlfriend?" he asked, studying Undynes face.

Her good eye widened at the audacity of him. She sat up, straightened up. "Of course! OF COURSE I DO SANS!" She seethed at the short skeleton, who gestured to Alphys.

"She was the one that got so attached to the human girl in the first place. And we both know her judgement of character is pretty high up there. Not as high as mine, but close." Undyne glanced at Alphys, who grinned sheepishly.

"...Alph?"

Alphys laughed nervously, fiddling with her glasses and cleaning them before putting them back on. "Ehe...y-you see...I was, ah, freaked out by her at first. She, uhm, w-was a human in a m-monster college, a-and so, I was wary of her. B-but then she, uh, really g-grew on me. S-she stood up t-to Sans!" Undyne blinked widely at Alphys, curiousity taking over her caution. Alphys laughed again, less nervously this time. "Y-yeah! She, uh, took her g-giant book, and w-when Sans had said his rant a-about h-how it was a d-dangerous world for h-humans, a-and basically thr-reatened her, she took her book and s-smacked him in the face with it!" she made the motion of it. Laughter sounded from the kitchen, which simmered into a small chuckle and an apology from Papyrus. Alphys blushed deeply and tapped the tips of her claws together. "Sh-she then told him she w-wanted to be friends, o-once he g-got off his high horse." she cleared her throat and settled into her seat.

Once it all sunk in for her, Undyne started laughing at the idea of someone smacking the big intimidating Sans in the face with a thick book, and then turning around and saying they wanted to be friends. She liked this kids style, even though she was still highly wary of the human.

Sans laughed dryly in memory. "Yeah. Ya see 'Dyne? Kid doesn't mean any harm. I even did a judgment check on her." He hummed as Undyne raised a brow. He only shrugged as she waved for him to continue. "Aside from her stepping on some bugs and feeling guilty about it, she's clean." He stated, closing his sockets as to hide the fading of his whites. "Kid wouldn't willingly hurt a monster, she seems sweet to us anyways."

There was still some things shaded about her. She wasn't all clean, but she wasn't dirty either. Aside from the clouded abuse of her childhood and teenage years, there was something else. Something large was missing, hazed in a shroud of confusion on his part. The fact that his soul tugged at it made him worry all the more. Not that he would tell Undyne that. If she had any doubt of his legitimacy in his abilities, then there goes his one line in knowing how his brother was doing out in the field. He couldn't risk that.

Undyne's lips thinned as she considered these new things. She then shrugged and leaned back into the couch, mulling everything over. "Alright, I'll let her chill with us…" she narrowed her eye at him, and he met it with two white dots. "But if I catch so much as a whiff of things going to shit, I will find you and tear you apart bone by bone." Sans just chuckled and shrugged. Undyne grinned widely and called over her shoulder. "How's that tea coming along, bonehead?"

…

Frisk hummed as she stepped out into the warm day. The chime of Muffets door sounded behind her as the door closed softly. Her hands full of drink holders and bags of spider donuts, Frisk smiled brightly as she turned to walk back to Alphys' apartment. Someone stopped her in her tracks though, as she stared up at an embarrassed goat boy.

Asriel laughed in an embarrassed way and stuffed his hands into his slacks' pockets. "Hello, Frisk the scientist." he eyed her and the bundle of goods in her hands. He smiled sullenly. "Ah, if I am in your way I will step aside and let you be on your way. I was hoping I could gain the chance to talk with you briefly though."

The human closed her gawking mouth and shook her head, setting down the items on the table next to them. "O-oh, no, I'm sorry Asriel. Yeah, I have time to talk." She smiled at the young ambassador, who smiled back and nodded.

"Thank you." he smiled brightly, his eyes twinkling with happiness. Frisk's heart warmed at that. He looked up at the blue sky, fiddling with his sleeves. He wore a golden long-sleeve shirt and black slacks which accentuated his lean build, and she found he was quite dashing dressed so plainly. No bells and whistles, just simply himself. He laughed, the twinkle of his laughter filling her with comfort. Thankfully her heart didn't seize from the invasion of her feelings, since she already felt as such. "...I wanted to apologize, for last night." He glanced at Frisk, who was smiling in an understanding way.

She hummed and nodded, tilting her head. Last night was sure an emotional rollercoaster for her. "Your parents were...interesting."

His laughter was boisterous, like his father's, and she almost felt like laughing as well. "You are such a kind woman, Frisk." he grinned and turned to her, beaming. "Maybe...maybe if things were different, I could have taken you on an actual date." he grinned.

Frisked smiled, a hidden sadness in her. "Maybe, if things were different, I would have liked that." She laughed and shook her head. "But god, your parents are terrifying!" She clutched her chest, causing Asriel to laugh. She grinned at him. "I doubt they would be happy with a human dating their precious son." she laughed kindly, causing him to chuckle and nod.

"Yeah...eh, that's still not going to stop me from trying to sway their minds." he said, determined, and her heart cried out to him. He seemed to take note, and sighed because of it. "We need to build human monster alliances, to show that not all humans are bad, just like not all monsters are good." he looked out, distantly, knowingly.

Frisk smiled sympathetically at the young ambassador, and wrapped her arms around his chest, hugging him close. "Well I wish you the best of luck!" Asriel blinked down at her, and laughed in a sweet way, before scooping her up in a large hug.

Pulling away from her, Asriel smiled charmingly and nodded. His hands clasped behind his back. "I'll be seeing you around, sis." he winked, causing her to laugh and nod, waving him goodbye.

She then called out, a hand cupped over her mouth. "If you ever need a place to escape and play some games you know my address!" his laugh echoed as he rounded the corner out of site.

With a warm smile she scooped up her order and made her way back to her waiting company.

 **...**

 **Thank you for reading, please review!**


	9. Her

**Hey guys! So this is gonna be a little...rough. It's bringing in some plot elements, so enjoy the ride guys!**

 **Replies:**

 **Kazriel: I bask in your encouragement, it is more than enough :)**

 **MachUPB: Thank you! I have some ideas for him in this story, and they're going to really come out as we come towards the end of this tale. Sweet baby Frisk is making all the friends.**

 **Anyways, on with the show! I do not own Undertale, all of that belongs to Toby Fox.**

 **...**

Papyrus seemed determined to keep the human around as frequently as possible, and any objections were quickly pushed to the back of her mind at Undyne's insistence. The three scientists glanced at each other, unsure of how much longer they could be away from their own projects at the whims of the soldier duo. Sans was quick to brush his concerns to the back of his mind, enjoying the company of his brother.

He honestly seemed like a different person with the taller skeleton around - more laid back and overall funner to be around. He even cracked a few bad jokes and puns seemed to be laced in his words. Frisk just adored the wordplay, and even Alphys chuckled at a few really good ones. Papyrus was a screaming mess at the bad jokes, and Undyne would just chuckle and send death glares at the short skeleton, who just chuckled and spat a new joke at her.

Alphys was on the fringes of being a nervous wreck from being away from her responsibilities for so long, but she held out since Undyne was there to give her special attention. Sweet nothings and words of encouragement when the five of them had been out in a social setting.

Frisk though, she felt like the fifth wheel halfway through the second day of them hanging out. (Papyrus insisted that Frisk, himself and Sans crashed over at Alphys and Undynes for a second night. Any objections were ignored.) So, after Undyne nearly screamed her ear off at her parting of the ways, Papyrus insisted someone walk her home. Most specifically, The Great Himself.

Frisk laughed and shook her head, insisting that she was only a few blocks away from her own home. So, on her own way she went, insisting she'd call Alphys when she got back to her apartment to tell everyone she was home safe. The warmth of the day filled her with determination, leaving her blind to the pair of eyes that had been watching her for weeks now.

A warm wind reached her as she rubbed her chilled arms, entering into the still broken entryway that the dog guards had wrecked days earlier. It was one of the last days that it would be warm enough to enjoy the warmth this close to the mountainside, too bad it had been really windy on her walk home. She was still unaware of the eyes that followed her up the stairwell which lead to her level. She really needed to remind herself to have a sweater on hand from now on.

Walking up the steps to her apartment complex she hummed to herself a song Sans hummed a couple nights ago in the early morning, the song somehow drifting back to the forefronts of her mind. Pink graced her face at the thought. She had only known the guy for five or six weeks now, but he seemed like an open book even though he didn't want to be. His normal voice was monotone with some inflictions, but when he thought no one was looking, or in those quiet times between the chaos where he forgot anyone was with him, he would hum to himself. It was this deep baritone, the stuff of the earth. It would resonate in the soul of those listening, but yet there was a warmth that his accent brought out. It was a rare accent, but it was an old celtic accent that irish gypsies had back in the day. He normally didn't let it get out, but when it did when he had a little too much ketchup or he sang, which was something also very rare, it brought a sort of happiness to people around him. Even if they couldn't hear it.

His brother might be a light of the world, who brought people endless joy and happiness, who fought for the justice of those needing it most, but Sans was a light in his own way. Even if he hated to admit it.

A quiet smile rested on Frisk, but she shook her head of thoughts. She loved all her friends, why would her mind focus on him soly when others were equally deserving of her thoughts. Alphys was so much in love with her girlfriend, and she became a new person with her around. Undyne had come back the same time Papyrus had, both of them coming back from their time on duty. Undyne, abrasive and overbearing as she was, was crazy and so much fun to be with. She did have that seriousness that war brought to a person, but she managed to push past that and be in the moment as much as she could. Her strength gave Frisk so much determination that she could explode!

And then there was Papyrus. Frisk giggled into the back of her hand. Papyrus had none of what Undyne held onto. He hadn't really seen the terrors of war, what with being stuck in the kitchen as a line cook. He insisted that he was making a difference. 'FOR, WITHOUT FUEL, HOW WILL PEOPLE BE ABLE TO TEND TO THEIR DUTIES LITTLE HUMAN?' Frisk repeated in her head, hearing that same high pitch that was identical to real life. No, he may not be one of those on the front line, but he kept moral up. He gave people their food with such joy in his soul that that made people want to keep fighting. Frisk's hand rested on her chest as she felt herself warm at the thought of the over zealous skeleton. Papyrus was a real hero, and she was proud to know him.

She reached her floor, and she stopped. The hall was dark, not from lack of light but from energy. She felt herself melt away, and she would have been gone completely if not for the determination the thought of her friends gave her.

Frisk tried again, taking a step forward and pushing onward to her apartment. She would get inside, check with big mama, get back to her project, and head out to class. Yeah, no big deal. She laughed to herself nervously, which caught in her throat.

A figure was at her door.

A familiar figure.

She wanted to back pedal as quickly as she could but her feet seemed to have melted into the flooring.

She felt her eyes on her.

The figure pushed off from the wall, and walked over to her. Frisk stared at the girl with red eyes approaching her, and it was all she could do not to scream and cry. Frisk clenched her jaw tightly. A taller female, who had a head on her, smiled down at Frisk. "Frisky Frisk Frisk Frisk." the girl chanted in a lull. Stopping in front of her, the new girl draped a hand under Frisks jaw and pulled her to look into those blood red eyes.

"Chara." Frisk stated flatly, earning a pout from the other.

"Frisky, that isn't a way to greet your girlfriend." Chara murmured as she planted a kiss on Frisk.

Frisk pushed the other girl away quickly and glared at the demon eyed female. "Well you aren't exactly that are you?!" She snapped, gripping her tote bag to keep her grounded in all this. The quirked brow from Chara only infuriated her more. "We haven't been that for a year! A year, Chara!"

Chara tapped her lip and hummed to herself. "...No, no, what I distinctly remember is us taking a break." She smirked at Frisk. "Little Frisky wanted a break, remember?" She sang as she filled the gap between the two and grinned down at Frisk. "You said that it would be good for us," she hummed into Frisks ear, brushing it with her lips and nipping at it. Her words crept into Frisks brain, swirling around with her real memories and the fake ones Chara sang into reality.

Frisk stared ahead, trying to remember what was real. "I…"

Chara chuckled, her hand resting on Frisks arm and pulling her closer. The other hand trailed down her neck, down her spine, as she hummed into Frisks hear. "You said after our break you would give up on this science thing, that you weren't cut out for it." She gripped Frisks chin gently and tugged it up so Frisk would be staring into Chara's eyes. They seemed to flicker a bright red for a second as Frisk zoned out. "Well, here I am, time for you to stop pretending to be something you're not. That those things you see are delusions, that you even thinking you can make them are delusional. I'm here to protect you from being that stupid little girl you were in high school." She was about to stroke Frisks cheek when her hand was slapped away.

Chara's eyes hardened as she stared down at the smaller girl. Tears had fallen down Frisks face, and her expression was contorted into that of anger and rebellion. Chara scoffed. "You should leave now then Chara." Frisk wiped her face with the back of her hand roughly, and in the place of anger and rebellion determination burned. "Because this 'break' will never be over! I broke up with you a year ago!"

Frisk stepped away, still facing Chara. "I was tormented by you for so long - I - I couldn't remember what thoughts were my own and what were yours." More tears fell, but no compassion showed in Chara. "You had this...way of getting in my head, but that's changed because you have no more power over me!" She screamed the last part.

This earned a laugh from Chara. "No power? No power?!" She grabbed Frisk by the face, squeezing her cheeks as she raised Frisk up until her feet dangled a foot off the ground. The smaller girl shook as her eyes swam in fear. Her hands pulled at Chara's arm weakly. Chara licked her lips and grinned at that. "Little stupid girl, you have no idea the power I hold over you still. You think I don't know about your little project? You think I have no idea about your monster pals?!" Frisk stopped shaking, and she paled. Chara pulled her close and drowned out all her sight with a pair of bright red glowing eyes. "If you do not comply I will find every single one of them, with you in tow, and make you watch as I kill each and every one of them as brutally as they deserve. Alphys. Undyne. Papyrus. Sans." Chara stopped, noticing a reaction from the last two, and grinned gleefully. "I will kill them extra slowly." She threw Frisk to the ground, causing her to scream as she held her shoulder. Chara knelt down and brushed a hair out of Frisks face sentimentally. Frisk sneered.

"You can't bully me Chara. They're strong. I'm strong. You -" she whined as Chara slammed Frisks head to the ground, and hovered just above her ear.

"Tell you what, I'll give you until the end of the semester, about seven weeks yeah? I'll give you until then to have fun with your friends. To make your time thingy, whatever you have going on in that little room of yours. To enjoy your freedom. Because once it's all over, I will kill everyone in that god forsaken school, making you watch, and then we'll go back to being a happy little family." She grinned, stood back up and patted Frisk on the head like a lost puppy. "Your strength is an illusion and I can't wait to drink your tears when your illusion breaks." She then whistled a happy tune as she left.

Silent tears fell from Frisk as she shook. Fear was thick in her very being. How did Chara find her? When had things gone so wrong? She...she sobbed loudly and curled into herself, ignoring the pain from her arm. Dislocated. She sobbed once more before pushing herself up with her good arm. She looked at her hurt limb and coughed a sob, tears still rolling down her face. Limp. It was dislocated and she groaned at that.

Digging through her purse she pulled out her wallet, gripping it in her mouth and grabbing her dislocated arm with an unsteady hand. Squawking and panting, she pumped herself up in her mind and jammed the arm back into socket. The wallet did nothing to muffle her scream, which caused a few doors to open and people inside to look around for the source. A few people slammed their doors shut at the sight of the girl, while a couple mumbled an unsure 'You okay?' at which Frisk, in her panting state, nodded and smiled at them, waving off their false concern. With that she was alone in the hallway, staring at her dental map on the wallet, dulled by the brown leather. She shrugged at it as she got up and entered into her home quickly. Her smile was absent as she could feel the world weigh down on her.

She had to step up her work, and quickly.

…

Her theory was, if she could get someone else to restart, then maybe the responsibility would shift off of her.

She stared down at the RESTART box that had fizzled out for the tenth time that night. Her shoulders shook as her nerves trembled at the encounter from earlier.

She hadn't even noticed the twenty messages on her phone.

Laughter bubbled from her as she tore off her goggles and tossed them onto the bed a little too hard. They bounced and thudded onto the ground. She sobbed again and slammed her fists onto the table, making the metal box wobble.

"WHY WON'T YOU WORK?!" She screamed at the box, her head drooped low and her shoulders shaking, gripping at the back of her head and stroking her hair for the only comfort she would allow herself.

She screamed in surprise as her phone started to sing and drop to the floor. Staring at the glowing phone she lamely went to it. Sitting on the balls of her feet she hugged her knees to her chest and inspected the phone.

A cool grin on a short skeleton in blue flashed on her screen, as well as the time.

10:18pm

She paled as her heart dropped.

She cursed herself for missing class. She shook her face, rolling her tongue as she rubbed her face dry. A click to accept, and she held the phone to her ear.

"Hey, what's up?"

There was an unamused chuckle. "Ya know kid, for someone who acts like a smart human, it was pretty stupid of you to skip out of class."

She sighed and rested her forehead against her knees. "Mhmm. Pretty stupid." She said flatly.

"So why'd ya do it anyways?"

A bitter laugh was her response. "Personal stuff kind of...threw me around." She rubbed her cheek against her previously dislocated shoulder, wincing.

A hum in response, and a knock came from Frisk's front door. She furrowed her brows and stood up, padding out of her room and over to the entrance of the small apartment. B. was out again, as she usually was this time of night, so she didn't have to worry.

Stepping up to the door she heard from the phone, "Knock knock,"

That same voice was repeated from the other side of the door, and she laughed to herself dryly. She ended the call and leaned an ear to the door. "Who's there?"

"Dozen."

"Dozen who?"

"Dozen anyone wanna let me in?"

She forced a smile and opened the door for him to enter.

He strolled in like he owned the joint.

"It's rude to hang up on someone without saying bye first kid." He stated with his hands in his pockets.

Frisk shrugged it off and closed the door. When she turned around he was gone as footsteps echoed from the kitchen area. She followed after him.

Light lit up the small kitchen as the refrigerator was dug through. A victorious sound from Sans and a hard closing revealed Sans with a large ketchup bottle in hand. He grinned like a kid at christmas and wiggled the condiment bottle at her. "A little cold for my taste, but it'll do."

She sighed again as she followed the skeleton out of her kitchen, through her living room, and over to a glass door. He flung it open, stared down at the ground, and shot Frisk a confused look.

Frisk smiled bashfully at his assumptions. He stepped to the side and pointed at the inch of balcony and the bars that lined it. She chuckled at the joke of a balcony, as he grunted and closed the door a little too forcefully. She scowled at him as he made his way to the couch and kicked back on it.

She stared as he somehow took up the length of the couch. A laugh sat in her throat as he seemed to realize this too. A few heavy pats of his leg caused her to send him an ugly look. He only grinned easily and shrugged, slurping down a good portion of the ketchup bottle. He made no motion to move his legs, and grunted when she sat on his knees.

Making herself comfortable on the rather uncomfortable skeleton she turned her attention to him with lidded eyes. "Sans. What are you doing here?"

He looked her over and shrugged. "Paps' out for the night with Undyne, so I thought I'd come bug ya."

She smiled lamely at him. Yeah. Sure. "Uhuh." she shook her head and slumped into the back of her couch, sliding off his knees and letting her legs lay over his.

A heavy silence fell over them, and somehow Sans had started turning one of her feet in his boney hand, as a way to keep his mind somewhat occupied. She only chuckled at that, chewing on her lip steadily as her mind kept on wandering back to the item in her room.

He noticed. He always seemed to notice. He also noticed how her shoulder was swollen. Not that he always studied her shoulders, but this one in particular was red and slightly swollen around the joint. Then, he noticed the hallowed look in her eyes, and how the bags under her eyes were more prominent with the stress lines, like she lived lifetimes, and how old did this kid say she was again?

Wasn't she supposed to be nineteen or something? Kid looked way older than that in this light. The world weighed down on her shoulders, and he felt his soul become cold at that. A loud sigh caught her attention as he closed his eyes and pushed himself to sit up, somehow dragging her along with. Once pushing herself up they sat across from each other, and that was when he opened his sockets to reveal a glowing blue iris.

"Okay kid, what happened?"

Instantly she stiffened, her arms crossing so that her hands were on the opposite sides knees, and her eyes became glazed over, guarded from insight. "I don't know what you mean Sans."

He stared at her lamely, then pressed a sharp finger against the swollen ligament. She flinched and drew in a quick breath through her teeth. "Sure bud. And you're gonna tell me that didn't hurt like a sonuvabitch."

She turned away, biting on her lip so hard that a drop of blood fell from the corner of her mouth.

Instantly he was up and rushing over to the kitchen, and then returned with a wet towel. "Hey! Don't do that! I don't know much about human anatomy, but I know that that ain't good for ya." As he was about to tend to her lip she jerked away. His blue iris flashed and he flicked her hard on the forehead, causing her to let go of her lip and flinch.

"Hey!" She snapped, and was silenced as her lip was pulled and the wet towel pressed down.

"Don't cop an attitude with me kid. No wonder ya hang with us monsters, no one would take your shit otherwise." He mumbled as he tended to the lip. Once the blood stopped flowing he sighed and tossed the stained paper towel. Turning to her once again he stared her down, his patience running thin.

"You having personal issues kid?"

Her eyes widened at him. "What?"

His blue eye flickered to her shoulder, his sneer growing. "I mean, it's tough dislocating a bone like that, but it can be done with enough will." He stared at her. "That why ya skipped class tonight? Cus yer dealing with some internal shit?"

She pailed white, as if she had seen a ghost, and she gripped her arms. She had been pushing herself too hard to even notice the pain of it, and she felt vulnerable with how he stared her down. She laughed out of nervous habit, holding herself close. "I wouldn't say internal necessarily."

His eyes went black, connecting the dots. "...someone beating you up? That it?" She looked away uncomfortably and shifted where she sat. Another long silence before either of them made any sort of noise. "Ya know, if ya need to go into hiding, I always got space at my place."

Her eyes snapped to him, wide with panic and a sort of fear. She shook her head frantically, and his sneer dropped. He chuckled bitterly. "Didn't know the thought of crashing at my place was such a terrifying thing."

She gaped at him and then shook her head frantically again. "No! No no no nonono that's not it at all!" She sighed and leaned against the back of the couch, gripping at the skin of it. With a bitter chuckle she eyed her finger as it ran along a particular pattern on the couch. "I just...shit kind of hit the fan after I left you guys today." She laughed as her bangs draped over her eyes. "Seems she always finds me. I couldn't bring that to you guys. It's my own cross to bear." She smiled at him, and Sans could feel his sins crawl up his back.

He shuddered at that, before clearing his throat and eyeing her. He ended up finishing off the large bottle of ketchup and held it up. "Got anymore?"

Once he found the large stash in the back of the cabinet he returned with three large bottles held in his arms. Frisk smirked and chuckled at the sight of them. They were almost too large for him to carry all at once, and he looked like a kid who found the motherload of all things good. Taking a seat on the couch he popped the cap and slurped down a good portion of it. Then the television went on, slightly dusty from underuse, and he found the Adult Swim channel for them to watch. She eyed him, then eyed the television, and went to stand.

Her wrist on her good arm was grabbed, causing her to look over at him. Looking at her with lidded sockets the two white orbs looked her over. "Where ya going." He stated.

Frisk stared at him, still guarded but vulnerable under his stare. "To get back to work."

Sans laughed at that and tisked her. "Wrong answer."

She gawked at him, trying to jerk her hand out of his grip. No effect. She sighed and stared at him. "Sans, I gotta get back to work."

He shook his head and pulled her to sit next to him, an arm draped over her - making sure to avoid the swollen shoulder - as if to anchor her. "It's shitty double standards to make me take a break and yet refuse to take one yourself Frisk." She glanced at him at the use of her name. He just grinned widely at her, pulling her close and turning back to the television. "One hour of the boobtube kiddo, I'll know if ya try to sneak away." He patted her arm, causing her to puff out her cheeks in frustration. "Ya need to take a break." He stated, as if mocking her, and she sighed. Relenting, she leaned against him and settled in for an hour of late night cartoons.

 **...**

 **And she arrives onto the set. Chara, in all her demonic glory.**

 **She isn't exactly like this for me on a personal level, but for the sake of this story she's going to take on this form. Chara is mainly a wildcard for me when planning out these Undertale stories. Sometimes she'll be the sweet girl that's only looking out for Frisk and will defend her viciously. Other times she'll be...well, this. Psychotic and all that. Just depends on the story. I wanted to make this clear for Chara fans, since her fans have a wide range of feels for her. Don't mean to burst anyone's bubble, it's just how the cookie crumbles.**

 **Also, I think this will be the last chapter I'll be putting up for a few weeks (which feels like an eternity for me considering how quickly I've been putting up chapters for this). I'll be going out of town for a few days, and I have to catch up on some work. I also don't really have anything prewritten for this aside from the ending, so I have to figure out how the story will go from here.**

 **Most of the building blocks are in place though, so hopefully things will tie together cohesively.**

 **Anyways my lovelies, thank you for reading, and please review.**


	10. Marvelous Misadventures

**I wonder what everyone else is up to! Let's watch!**

 **Replies:**

 **MachUPB: Yes, she arrives on the scene! I'm glad you liked the chapter! (Thank you, I do appreciate the notion. I just sort of end up rushing myself in these matters.)**

 **Not much else to really say before this, so on with the show.**

 **I do not own Undertale!**

 **...**

The small apartment was in shambles, with the couch flipped onto its front and a flickering lamp leaning against it. The many posters on the wall were tilted, and one was even on the floor, crumpled into a heap in the nook of the wall meeting the floor.

What caused Alphys the most panic though, were the multitude of figurines she collected in her life positioned as if someone had played with them carelessly. Her whole body was shaking, fists clenching and unclenching.

The back room had sounds of her girlfriend and her girlfriends friend rough housing. Screaming at each other and announcing battle plans.

"KITTY GIRL TO ADJACENT SQUARE ALPHA DELTA!"

"YOU BONEHEAD THAT'S NOT HOW YOU ANNOUNCE YOUR MOVEMENTS!"

"NYEEEEHHHH! WELL THEN, YOU TELL ME HOW WE PLAY THIS GAME THAT YOU MADE UP!"

"NYARG, I DIDN'T MAKE IT UP! IT'S CALLED RISK!"

"WELL, THIS RISK GAME IS HORRIBLE! WHERE ARE THE COOL ACTION SCENES? THE BATTLE MONTAGES!? WHERE ARE THESE HUMAN TACTICS OF SUMMONING WEAPONS THAT I HEAR YOU AND ALPHYS GOING ON ABOUT?!"

Alphys was already on her way to the back, going quicker and more agile than one would think of such a creature as her. Of course she couldn't leave the two of them alone in her apartment on a school night. At least they found the board games, so she hoped that would have sedated them. But, Papyrus said something about a 'kitty girl'-

Undyne clenched her fins from the scream that came from Alphys. Papyrus just blinked and gawked openly at the yellow reptile.

"WOWIE ALPHYS, I DIDN'T EVEN KNOW YOU KNEW HOW TO SCREAM THAT LOUD!"

He looked at the young woman who held her chest and stared at the scene before her in absolute and unbridled horror.

Her many, many action figures, the ones that she kept out of reach and out of harm's way, were STREWN across the room. Left to lie on their fragile parts. Some were bent in ways that, if bent any more, would snap in two.

Alphys started to hyperventilate. She was going to puke. She was going to faint. She was going to thrash them!

Staring at the two of them, her glasses glossed over, flashing a bright white that glowed with her fury. Undyne, now recovered, chuckled and scratched her cheek. "Eheh, whoops." her eye closed and her brows furrowed at Alphys. It's not like she didn't expect this reaction, and she was going to put them away before Alphys got home, but time got away from her.

Undyne started to pick up the figurines with as much care as she could muster. "C'mon Papyrus, let's pick everything up."

"OKIE DOKIE." he picked one up, but his enthusiasm caused him to grab a bit too hard. It snapped in his fingers. The three of them stared at his hand. Undyne pailed, and Alphys seemed to have become stone. "...WOOPSIE." he laughed nervously.

The two of them were instantly kicked out of the apartment with more force than one thought possible. "GET OUT!" Alphys screamed, trembling as she stared at the two with such rage.

Undyne reached out to her. "Babe, hold on, it was only an accident."

"AND DON'T COME BACK FOR A FEW HOURS WHEN I'VE HAD TIME TO FIX THINGS!" Alphys screamed, teary eyed, and the door slammed shut so forcefully that the hallway shook.

Undyne and Papyrus glanced at each other, one annoyed at the other, who just gave the first an apologetic "NYEH".

The tall fish woman sighed and rubbed the back of her neck, her gills reacting to the chill in the air. "Tsk, serves us right." she stretched in a long way, her arms reaching to its max length, and sighing as her joints popped into place. Relaxing she scratched her cheek. "Just wish it wasn't so cold."

The door snapped open, two military jackets being tossed in her face, before the door slammed closed again.

Undyne chuckled, pulling on her jacket, as she tossed Papyrus his. "Thanks babe! Love ya!" She cheered, and made her way away from the drama of it all.

Papyrus chuckled, announcing it more than actually laughing it. He followed after his comrade. "WHERE TO FIRST FRIEND?"

"Was thinking the human pub on the corner."

…

Twitching fingers steadied themselves once the last of the figurines were set in their proper place. A deep sigh from her throat hissed through her buck teeth, and she pushed her glasses up the slope of her snout. Stepping back and planting her hands on her hips, she took a long look around her apartment.

"E-everything in its p-place." She hummed a random theme song and clapped her hands together. "Mmm y-yes, wonderful." She shifted in her spot, rocking from one foot to another, before nodding and making her way back to the also freshly cleaned back room. Grabbing her bag that was hastily abandoned in the wake of her earlier rampage, she about-faced and re-entered the hallway.

Then, pulling a hall door open she stared at the insides of a small coat closet. Or maybe it was a sundries pantry. Alphys never really could grasp the understanding for such a small space that really had no function. Reaching along the small strip of the inner wall, her tongue clicking against the roof of her mouth, until her claw snagged against a rough part of it. Grinning in success, she pulled at a loop that was on this rough patch, until a resounding click, and the wall she was staring at opened away from her. Holding the bag to her chest, she shuffled into the narrow entrance, and once she was inside it closed behind her seamlessly.

Pulling on a cord, light filled the small makeshift lab. There were the raw makings of a high-end lab, but with the room only being ten foot by twelve foot, she didn't have a whole lot of room to expand. Alphys found herself rather proud of her discovery.

When she had gotten this apartment a couple years back she had examined the floorplans and how they didn't match up with the actual size of it. It had driven her crazy for the first few weeks, and she couldn't quite wrap her head around human architecture - this being her first venture outside of monster society. Then, after a shooting in her apartment block - one of the tenants directly below her on the floor below her - she started to have panic attacks about her possessions. Her computer and her expensive equipment wasn't safe! She had never ran into this problem before!

Then it all sort of just hit her when her tail went crashing into one of the walls along the hallway. How clumsy was she? Oh, how she wished Undyne wasn't overseas and was with her to help reassure her that everything was fine, and that she hadn't just vandalized her own home!

Though, when she looked through the hole she created, she wasn't peering through into her neighbor's apartment, and it wasn't one of her own rooms. It was an empty space, hidden in the hallway. Further inspection showed that it was most likely once a room that had been overlooked in a renovation done by the owners of the building, and then it all clicked for her.

Humans were sure strange creatures.

Alphys hummed to herself in her small, home made laboratory, and set the bag down on the operating table that she had somehow snuck in here. Pulling the bag open she took out her current invention.

A metallic box with buttons and squares on the front, with four dials that sat above one wheeled leg. There were a couple ports where arms would be snapped into place once Alphys decided it was in working order. Highly pleased with herself, she just had a few more things to do before testing started.

Unscrewing one of the panels on the side, she flipped up the front as if it was the front of a car, and worked on the wiring. Making sure her calculations were correct, and that everything was connected in its rightful place, she hummed another theme song from one of her shows.

Once happy with herself she put it all back together, in the correct order, and flipped its switch.

She held her breath, her eyes widening anxiously, her glasses sliding down the bridge of her nose. Her invention was booting up, as it should. The lights on its front started to flicker, and the tension in her came to a boil until, finally.

"TEST 138. HE-LLO. I AM MTT1-64...BUT YOU MAY CALL ME **METTATON**."

Alphys squealed in delight, pulled up a chair, and ran through as many tests as she could.

…

There wasn't much of an atmosphere to the pub in the human district that Undyne and Papyrus found themselves in. Yeah, the humans were crude, and the air was thick with the smells of cheap liquor and cigar smoke, and then there was the high pitched dog whistle of a whine that came from Papyrus, but Undyne was set on making the most of it. Seeing as any decent pub was in the monster districts, and how the closest one was two hours walking distance, and seeing as neither of the two military monsters owned a license to drive civilian vehicles, Undyne would just have to do with the low quality of drink.

"UNDYNE! IT'S SO GREASY! CAN'T WE GO BY A CONVENIENCE STORE FOR SPIRITS?!"

Undyne scoffed at the tall skeleton. "Fwuh, take it down a notch bonehead. You got me for company, right?!"

Papyrus let out an unsure sound as he eyed the haze in the pub, coughing at it and waving his hand to clear it from him. "I CAN FEEL THE SMOKE HIT MY BONES." he stared at his partner in crime with lidded eye sockets. "IT'S STAINING ME YELLOW FROM HOW DENSE IT IS."

She rolled her one good eye before dragging him to sit with her at the bar. "You wanna go wander the roads alone?"

A defeated sigh. "NO."

A large grin half the size of her face tightened at him. "Then have a drink with me. Bar keep should have some milk or something." An elbow jabbed into his side. Looking at her with a not-as-ecstatic-as-usual expression, he shrugged in defeat.

She was aware of the dozens of sets of eyes on the two of them, and she called for a shot of the bar keeps best tequila. Papyrus, still blissfully unaware of the heated stares sent at them, just shook his head and ordered a glass of water. He highly doubted this bar was sophisticated enough to house milk.

One shot.

Two shots.

Five shots.

Ten shots.

The barkeep gave Undyne his undivided attention now, noticing that, even though she had practically downed half a bottle of some potent juice, she still acted sober.

Most patrons would be shipped to the hospital at this limit.

Undyne only scoffed and looked over the barkeep.

"Another shot."

"Uh, lady, I think you've had enough."

She scoffed, leaning into the bar on one arm, her free hand on her hip as she stared down the human. Unphased, save for the couple drops of sweat that rolled down the side of his head. She eyed the small human man. He wasn't too distinguishable from the lot of them. Receding hairline pulled back into a brunette ponytail. On the chubby side, and stout like one of Alphys' fantasy movies, with the flying reptiles, and the short couple throwing the ring into the volcano, and the stubby humans that lived in the mountain. Yeah, this human looked like he lived in a mountain.

His eyes though, full of determination and something along the lines of worry. Huh, worry coming from a human. Odd thing.

Undyne leaned forward, both her arms folded under her as she stared him down, her scowl deepening. Unamused was her essence at that moment. "Look, bud, ya do know I'm a Monster, right?" The human barkeep shifted slightly on his feet, adjusting himself, making himself comfortable as he stared down the fish woman before him. The atmosphere in the bar became eerily quiet, and all eyes turned to them.

Papyrus swallowed heavily, fully aware of the energy now. "UH, UNDYNE." he tugged at her arm, trying to pull her away, while smiling at everyone to calm down. He heard how humans in crowds could be. Unpredictable. Violent. Easy to aggravate. The realization of their situation sunk deep in his bones. There were in enemy territory, all things considered.

It wasn't like he couldn't help defend. He was stronger than he let on. But still, with innocent civilians around, caught in the crossfire, well, General Dreemur would have a field day with them.

Undyne only shrugged off Papyrus' worry. There were more important matters at hand! "And, 'cus of that, I can hold my liquor twice better than the most hardened human." She eyed him, then the tequila bottle she had been working on all night. Snapping her eyes back to him, she started again. "So, pour me. Another. Shot."

Thinning his lips, the barkeep stared the beast straight on, without fear. "Sorry ma'am, but rules are rules." He eyed the patrons, then the two monsters. He leaned forward, in a hushed, mocking tone. "You do know that you're in a human bar, right?"

Undyne was on her feet quickly, her temper acting for her. The possibility of the drink being more potent than she truly thought being tossed out the window. I mean, how could human alcohol get her to act this way? It was just her being more passionate tonight than usual, right?

"LISTEN HERE, PUNK!" humans were instantly on their feet, and didn't advance only on the sight of the Monster's company holding her back. Undyne roared out. "LET ME GO PAPYRUS!" She jerked herself around. The two were practically flailing around, but stopped at the sudden loud smack from the bar.

"HEY! KNOCK IT OFF!" The two Monsters stared at the barkeep, who was now brandishing a metal baseball bat. The ringing of metal on wood echoed through the bar. Undyne, heaving in the chokehold of Papyrus' grip, eyed the human bartender for all his worth.

He looked irate, annoyed at her more than the skeleton. Gripping one end of the bat and now dropping the other end heavily into the free hand, he stared at Undyne unapologetically. "Look, I don't know what sort of superiority complex ya have going on, but lady, I really don't care. You coulda had all the shit in the world on your shoulders, and frankly, I'da been fine with it. I really don't care if yer a Monster or a Human, business is business." He shrugged, his eyes still hardened at her. She swallowed hard and stood, still in Papyrus' hold. "But, when someone such as yerself drinks half a bottle of some potent stuff, and then brings up shit that shouldn't be usually brought up in a house of sin, well, then I'm inclined to ask you to leave."

The business end of the bat landed solidly in his open palm, with emphasis. "I'll use force if I gotta."

Before Undyne could reply though Papyrus nodded enthusiastically. "YES, OF COURSE GOOD SIR, WE SHALL BE ON OUR WAY! LET ME JUST PAY FOR THE DRINKS-"

The barkeep held up his hand and shook his head. "Don't sweat it. Just make sure to not come back."

Nodding once more, Papyrus threw Undyne over his shoulder and dragged her out of the bar. Undyne started to scream and flail on his shoulder. "PAPYRUS, YOU WALKING PILE OF BONES, PUT ME DOWN!"

The door was slammed behind them, a couple human bouncers that, while still tall and intimidating, only came up to Papyrus' chest, stood at the door and eyed the two monsters disappearing into the night.

One human in particular ducked out of the bar and followed after the rambunctious duo, eyes glinting with malleolus intent.

…

Thankfully, or un-thankfully depending on who you ask, there was a convenient store in a ten block radius that didn't care whether or not they were Monsters. Undyne was still frustrated with the events of the night, and so she seeked after Mr. Quervo to help her through these troubling times. Papyrus wasn't all the happy about that though, so he himself bought a container of milk to drink as he kept an eye on his wild friend.

Currently they were five blocks away from Alphys' apartment, and he could walk Undyne back if needed. Heck, he could carry her for all it's worth. He just wanted to make sure his good friend wouldn't go on any sort of rampage she deemed necessary. He knew that she tended to have tunnel vision in her beliefs, and how she would project onto those she deemed worthy of her attitude.

So, when a fight came about ten minutes after she dug into her bottle, he wasn't the least bit surprised.

"WHAT? YOU THINK YOU CAN TAKE ME, HUMAN?!"

"Tsk, I think this fish wants to start something."

"GENTLEMEN, PLEASE! CAN'T WE RESOLVE THIS LIKE NORMAL BEINGS?"

"Stay out of this Papyrus!"

"Yeah, skeleton. Shouldn't you be in an attic with someone's halloween decorations?"

"OH, HOW MATURE. SERIOUSLY, UNDYNE, LET'S GO BACK TO THE APARTMENT."

"NO! I saw how they were looking at us! LIKE WE'RE LOWER THAN THEM!"

"Lady, you have some serious issues!"

"Yeah! That's right! WALK AWAY CHUMPS!"

Papyrus stared at Undyne, unamused and honestly worried for his friend. She was getting too caught up in her emotions, and if he didn't intervene soon then something major could happen. Especially if a group of humans were to entertain her outrage and act in response.

So, he did the best thing he could at that point.

He dragged her back to the apartment, with strength that Undyne hardly ever saw.

"Let me go bonehead!"

"NO."

"Come on! Alphys is still probably really pissed at me!"

"I DO NOT CARE UNDYNE. IT WOULD BE RECKLESS OF ME TO LET YOU CONTINUE THIS PATH ANY FURTHER!"

"AUGH!" Undyne huffed, stumbling after him. Her footing was loose, rough as it hit the pavement unsteadily. She eyed the determined skeleton in front of her. "...Ya know, gotta say, never seen you have this tight of a grip before. Kinda crazy."

Papyrus only puffed out his chest, his grip still tight on her wrist, as he dragged her the last block towards Alphys' apartment complex. "I KNOW. I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, HAVE MANY SURPRISING TALENTS."

Into the complex and up the stairwell, until they stood in front of Alphys' door. Knocking as loudly as he spoke, he heard a startled sound from inside the apartment. Papyrus grabbed Undyne by her shoulders, and held her in front of him, facing her to the door. Undyne wriggled, groaning in her slightly altered state. "Papyrus!" She groaned loudly, as if she was a kid being scolded for being caught with a cookie from the jar.

The door flew open. "Y-yes - oh!" Alphys fretted over Undyne, then eyed Papyrus. Once Undyne was brought inside Papyrus cast a final glance around the hallway. Something sinister clawed at the back of his mind, something not his own. He only shook it off to tend to his inebriated friend.

Inside, the yellow reptile brought the tall fish woman to the couch, and sat her there. Alphys, scowling at Undyne for getting carried away, did a basic check on her. "Oh Undyne…" she sighed and pressed two fingers to her girlfriends neck.

Undyne only smiled and let out a small giggle, her hands resting on Alphys' neck and her thumbs rubbing in circles. A yellow blush bloomed on Alphys, who cleared her throat. "A-ah, U-Undyne!" Alphys huffed as Undyne folded over herself and hugged the smaller woman around the waist.

"Alphys! I'm sorry I wrecked yer dolls!"

Alphys laughed, more at the handsy way Undyne was, and then pailed at how much alcohol she would have to have consumed to get to this point. She sighed into a hand, her other resting on Undyne's head.

Undyne pushed herself up on her hands, a large smile halfway between lustful and goofy sat on her face. "But I can make it up to you babe." She chuckled.

Alphys blinked widely at Undyne, glancing over at Papyrus who was bringing them glasses of water. "Uuuuh." Alphys jutted up, causing Undyne to flop onto the couch and chuckle. Taking one of the glasses of water she turned to Undyne and rubbed her back. "L-lets see how y-you feel in the morning."

Once Undyne was situated, with a glass of water and the t.v. playing one of the more dramatic animes for her, Alphys pulled Papyrus to the kitchen.

"T-thank you for looking after her, Papyrus."

"NO PROBLEM ALPHYS." He spoke in his equivalent to a whisper, which was still a moderate speaking voice. "ONE MUST ALWAYS LOOK AFTER THEIR FRIENDS!"

Alphys nodded with a clumbsy smile, before glancing back at the now sobbing woman. "Kaizu, noooooo!"

"...Papyrus, how much did she have?" She glanced at Papyrus, her nerves frayed from the unusual actings of Undyne. She only ever got this...flippant, when she had consumed massive amounts, and that was only when something was bothering her.

More than what had happened earlier.

Like, what was going on at her station.

Things she never talked about.

Papyrus shifted where he stood, scratching at the back of his neck. "AH, WELL…" he cleared his throat. "...A BOTTLE AND A HALF OF TEQUILA."

She stared at the skeleton, then she glanced at Undyne. Oh no. She pounded her fists against her face in frustration, only to be grabbed by him and held fast. She hissed her anguish through her teeth. "Damn. Damn damn damn." she huffed and rested her forehead against her arm.

It didn't matter how high one's threshold is, Monsters can't consume that much without repercussion.

Standing straight and looking at Undyne over her shoulder, she looked at Papyrus. "I apologize for any trouble she has been." She shifted where she stood, her wrists free and her own now. Scratching at the back of her neck she looked at Papyrus nervously. "You can crash here again for the night, I d-don't know h-how inviting it's going to b-be, w-with how she's a-acting, but…"

A hand held to her caused her to blink. "DO NOT WORRY ALPHYS. ALL THAT MATTERS IS UNDYNE FEELING HERSELF ONCE MORE. I CAN MAKE MY WAY HOME."

She swallowed hard. "But, Papyrus, the streets in the human districts aren't exactly safe for monsters! Haven't you heard the news lately?!" Alphys started to move to go grab her keys. "A-at least l-let me drive you home!" She was stopped by a large hand on her shoulder.

Papyrus only stood proud, his chest puffed. "FEAR NOT, FOR I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, CAN MAKE IT HOME UNSCATHED! AND WITH SO MANY NEW FRIENDS! I WILL BE POPULAR FROM JUST MY ONE JAUNT FROM HERE TO HOME!"

Alphys went to object once more, only to be silenced.

"I AM A GREAT RUNNER, ALPHYS! I CAN RUN HOME IN TWENTY MINUTES FLAT!"

She stared at him lamely, highly doubting he could run all that way in only twenty minutes, but a loud, pained groan from Undyne stole away her voice. Instantly Alphys was at Undynes side, and Papyrus had let himself out.

It wasn't like he didn't want to stay there with them, to help Undyne, but he knew his best friend. He knew she would want to talk, and she never talked with him there. Well, yes, she did talk with him in the room, but never of personal things that she needed to talk of.

Besides, he may not be the most graceful skeleton, but he knew enough grace to leave two lovers alone to their means. They needed to talk of things without him there, he decided midway through Undynes binge. It filled him with passion to know that his friends found each other!

His feet started to carry him, through the human district, as if on their own and through some means of magic. His brother had his shortcuts, but he, well, he had his own ways of getting to where he needed. Before he could take the final steps to take him home though, a lone human figure stopped him in his tracks.

He blinked down at the not so small human girl, and with a large smile he waved at her. "OH, HELLO HUMAN, IS THERE SOMETHING I CAN HELP YOU WITH?" He looked around, noting how it was so dark, that it was the middle of the night. "ARE...ARE YOU LOST?"

The human girl smiled wide, staring up at him with red eyes. "Not exactly."

 **...**

 **...*jazz hands?***

 **Please review.**


	11. Troubles on the Horizon

**It's been a little while. Sorry for a bit of delay with this, but I kind of didn't know where to go with this. Though, I kind of binged BoJack Horseman while working on other things, so it maaaayyyy or may not have subconsciously affected my writing for this chapter...*cough cough***

 **I wanted to get something out to you guys though, so I hope that this suffices. Been going through some personal stuff, so this was also kind of an outlet for me. But I got bettuh!**

 **You know, I'm going to have to go back through this and rewrite this story with better structure. Would you guys be up for that, ya know, when I finished this? Or maybe I'll just release the rewritten version on a different document. Opinions please!**

 **Now for replies!**

 **Mermain123: *taps fingers together* drama is what it is.**

 **MachUPB: Well, Papyrus only uses his amazing strength where it counts - with his friends well being! Of course! Thank you! All things shall be revealed in time.**

 **Guest: *temmie smile* Thank you!**

 **Guest (the second): Chara: HUHUHUHUHU!**

 **Anyways, on with the chapter! I do not own Undertale~**

 **...**

The sharp sounds of writing utensils on paper sounded through the small classroom, as Professor Gaster wandered by each student. A small smile sat on his cracked mouth, and his two-toned eyes scanned the notes of his students.

"If we apply this theorem to the methods of human sciences, then we start to see parallels that were merely concepts of their calculations." The blue and orange of his irises glanced towards Frisk, who suddenly seemed to have been hit by a breakthrough, and immediately she was in her world. A sad tone came over him, before sighing to himself and continuing on. His hovering hands flew around the classroom, signing his words to those that couldn't understand his speech.

"Suddenly, we gather the knowledge and theories that could make what humans consider magic and fiction to be scientific and true." He blinked as the alarm sounded, before clapping his three sets floating in the air. "Alright students, one last thing before you disappear into the night."

A collective groan from the class sounded, but they stayed.

Gaster smiled warmly before standing at the front. "As you know we are six weeks away from finals. Thus forth, eleven classes left. I know this may seem like a lot of time left for us to learn and stretch our ideas, but as we know, time is a very fickle thing." His and Frisks eyes met, and there was an urgentness to her gaze. Gasters smile dropped slightly, before humming to himself. "Yes, well," he muttered to himself, then turned back to the class with bright smiles.

"I urge those needing guidance to come seek me. Our theorems and calculations may be spot on in our minds, but sometimes we need a fresh look on these things. I also urge those that have not started-" he shot a glance at a snoring Sans and a couple others in the room, "-to start immediately. 85% of your grade is on this project, and I hope not to see bright minds fall short on such a task. Remember, this could be more for you than a pass or fail, this showing could mean a potential for your future in your chosen field. So please, come to me." He insisted, before clapping again and waving the students out. "That is all, see you next Tuesday."

His six hands hovered close, shrinking slightly in size until they were not cumbersome to him, and he went to the task of packing up his lessons for the day. A couple of his idle hands zipped around the classroom, grabbing at items he left clear across the room and returning them to his side. A familiar hum rolled from him, and he was caught up in his tasks for the end of the night. But a soft knocking on his desk alerted him, and he openly gawked at the oddness of it.

His human student, Frisk, with a troubled look on her face. His mind raced to what it could possibly be, but he only put on a smile and turned his full attention to her. "Ah. Miss Grent, how may I help you?"

She rubbed the back of her neck, nervously and timidly, though her eyes flashed with purpose, and so Gaster couldn't shrug off his worry. She went to nibble at her lip, but winced, then stretched out her mouth as if to filter her words. "Ahhm...Well, I…" She scratched at the back of her head, her eyes shifting to find her train of thought. Gaster only smiled patiently and took his seat. "I...I kind of have this...thing?" She shrugged awkwardly, looking at him for help. His smile only widened and one of his hands waved for her to continue.

Sighing with a rasp, she tapped her fingers against his desk. Her fingers fiddled with the hems of her sleeves. She had taken to wearing a brown jacket that went down to her knees in class the past couple weeks, and it was a bit too big for her. "Professor, remember when I told you about my reset box theory I was working on?"

His eyes twinkled. "Yes, quite ambitious but not impossible."

Frisk nodded, running a hand through her hair and gripping at some caught between her fingers. "I'm stumped." She stared at him. She echoed exhaustion. "I've been pushing this for weeks now, months, and I can't seem to…" She groaned in frustration and pulled at her hair. "I'm so stupid! It's right there!" She pulled her hand free and swung it through the air.

Instantly Gaster stood, towering over the small human. "Frisk." He stated, but not in an angry way. Frisk stared up at him, and her exhaustion reflected his melancholy. "Frisk Grent, how would a stupid human get into my class in the first place?"

Frisk sighed and closed her eyes. Her usual smile was gone, not even traces of it were there. Gaster stared down at her, worry consuming him. He knew there was more, but she hardly ever talked about herself in any timeline. He doubted she would say, but still, he felt the need to extend his offer to her.

"Miss Grent, if there is any need to speak to someone, for any issues you may have going on in your life, just know that there are those willing to listen." She opened her eyes, staring at him with a guarded look. Frisk smiled tightly, nodding and gripping her small hands into fists.

"Yeah…"

He nodded, his smile returning. "As for your issue with your project, bring it in next class. I would be willing to take a look at it."

Frisk nodded, smiling brightly. "Thank you Professor, I could really use the help." She stepped back and waved bye.

Gaster nodded before calling after her. "Tell Mr. Skelten that he needs to get to work! I want to see progress!" He sighed deeply as she disappeared through the doorway, before taking out a small book and jotting some notes into it.

…

A small group of monsters and a human gathered in the late night diner of Grillbys, the five of them chatting about their days.

"SANS, STOP DRINKING THAT KETCHUP SO QUICKLY! YOU KNOW YOU'RE GOING TO GET SICK!"

"What can I say bro, I gotta ketchup on lost time."

"WHAT. I. BROTHER THAT DOESN'T. AUGH!"

Sans chuckled and put down the empty bottle. Alphys glanced at him and tittered nervously. "U-um, t-that was ra-ather quick." She stared at him, and pushed her glasses up at the stretched grin on his.

The short skeleton looked at Alphys with one eye closed, as he lounged back in his seat. "Eh, I guess I'll mustard up the need to stop."

Frisk snorted, and whistled as she looked anywhere but Undyne's intense stare. Stealing a quick glance at Alphys, who hummed and scratched a claw at her chin, Frisk smirked at the hint and wiped a large glob of ketchup from her chin. She hummed approvingly at the amount on her thumb and plopped her thumb into her mouth. A thick huff through Undyne's gills - which was a very odd thing for Frisk - caused the human to roll her eyes. "Whaaat?" She groaned as she popped her thumb out of her mouth.

Undyne narrowed her good eye at her, before slamming a hand on the table and leaning into it, her elbow nearly smacking Papyrus in the rib. He just munched on his salad - the one non-greasy thing on the menu. Undyne sneered openly at Frisk, the yellow of her teeth accentuated by the red lining. "Hey, Punk. Don't you get drunk off that stuff?" She gestured to the red paste on her plate, causing Frisk to blink and tilt her head in confusion.

"Uh? Drunk?"

"Yeah! DRUNK! 'S why bonehead over here drinks the stuff in the first place." She grumbled. Sans furrowed his 'brows' at Undyne and scoffed, closing an eye and ignoring the light cyan that graced his cheekbones.

Frisk only blinked at Undyne, then eyed Sans, and suddenly a deep red covered her face in realization. "You mean….SANS!" She yelled, causing Sans to fall out of his chair.

Papyrus smiled goofily as he stared at Frisk. "WOWIE HUMAN, THAT WAS PRETTY GOOD!"

The human shook her hands in the air, as her hands took the form of claws, and the expression on her face was, well, miffed to put it lightly. She cursed a couple times, before pushing herself to stand and glaring at the skeleton on the ground. "SANS! You were getting DRUNK AT MY PLACE?!"

"W-what was h-he d-d-doing at your p-place, Fri-isk?" Alphys asked with a grin. Frisk shot her a look that could peel paint, and Alphys just laughed and found her soup to be an excellent conversationalist. Undyne blinked at Alphys and scoffed, draping an arm around the golden lizard and watching the small bit of drama unfold.

Papyrus chortled and not-so-much-whispered-but-spoke-normally to Undyne. "SEEMS SOMEONE'S ABOUT TO TALK TO SANS ABOUT HIS PROBLEM."

Undyne rolled her one eye and leaned into her seat. "Not like he listens to anyone anyways."

Sans blinked up at Frisk, and only grinned an easygoing grin. "Hey toots, ya floored me with science." Frisk only narrowed her eyes at him, and he tugged at his collar. "Tough crowd."

Frisk grabbed him by the lining of his hoodie, and with surprising strength for an angry human, hauled him up to stand. Sans only blinked down at her.

"Woah. Maybe harnessing the strength of human anger should be my project."

"SSSSSSHHHHHHHHHH!" She put her hand to his face, and shook her head warningly. "You get to not be smart with me."

"Well I doubt being dumb is going to help the situation much kid."

"HABUBUBUB." She blew air out between her lips, raspberrying Sans indirectly. "Shush. Frisk is talking. So don't kid me." Sans only grinned wider at that as he watched her with lidded eyes. Her cheeks were turning a deep pink, but she shook her head. "Don't."

"Guess this ain't a time to be kidding around."

Undyne had clamped a hand over Papyrus' mouth as his eyes bugged out of his sockets. He was vibrating and Undyne's hand made for amazing soundproofing.

Frisk sighed and dropped her hand. Sans only blinked at the human, and for a second he worried that he might have broken Frisk with that joke. It wasn't even his best!

Being hit with an empty ketchup bottle broke him of that illusion. Thankfully it was one of those red plastic bottles. "SANS YOU WERE GETTING DRUNK AT MY PLACE WITHOUT EVEN TELLING ME!" She yelled at him, smacking him over and over with the bottle. Sans held up his arms in defense. "You got drunk, and then came to my home, and-and you knew I had a good reason for not going to class - damn it Sans!" She hit him so hard that the bottle bounced off him and flew over Undyne, Alphys, and Papyrus.

Sans chuckled nervously and opened one of his eyes at her. "Technically I came to your house and then I got drunk."

Another ketchup bottle started to attack him. "THAT'S NOT THE POINT SANS!" Frisk snapped, her face red. "That's even worse!" She groaned and gripped the plastic bottle hard. She shook, stared at him, and then sighed, dropping her head into her hand.

She then chuckled dryly, dropping the bottle and letting it bounce. "You're a real piece of work if you need to be intoxicated to be around me…" She mumbled to herself, so low that the three watching couldn't hear, but loud enough for Sans to catch it. His eyes widened as he stared at her, a sort of horror surfacing, but only ebbing as it slipped under the surface of another mask. She put her hand on the back of her neck. "Look, I'm sorry to make everyone uncomfortable. Didn't mean to yell at you." She turned to the peanut gallery. "You must probably think I'm crazy or something."

"NOT AT ALL, UNDYNE YELLS HER EMOTIONS ALL THE TIME, AND SHE'S NOT CRAZY AT ALL." Papyrus said cheerfully, causing Undyne to laugh and pat him hard on the back. "NYEHHEHHEH!" he beamed, causing Frisk to smile dimly and nod.

"Yeah, glad to know I'm not crazy." She smiled softly at Undyne, who returned it with gusto.

"YEAH! Don't worry punk! With us, it's hard to be considered crazy! FWUHUHUHU~" she squeezed Alphys, who returned the hug.

Frisk nodded, rubbing her arm. "I'm glad to know that…" she smiled at them, looking anywhere but in Sans direction. "But, uh, I got a lot of work to be working on, so I should probably skedaddle." She nodded, pointing her thumb to the door.

Before anyone could protest though Papyrus pushed himself to stand, posing dramatically. "WAIT MY HUMAN FRIEND! I HAVE NEWS TO SHARE!"

The group blinked at him, and Frisk nodded and turned to him. "Uh, what's up Papyrus?"

Papyrus chuckled to himself, placing a hand to his bony chin. "I, THE GREAT AND FANTASTIC PAPYRUS, HAVE MADE A…" he paused as he looked around. "...FRIEND!" He beamed, causing Frisk to chuckle.

"That's great Papyrus. Not really...it's-it's great. Anything more?"

Papyrus blinked down at Frisk, and hummed. "WELL, SHE SAID SHE KNEW YOU."

Frisk stared up at him, her whole demeanor changed. Who could possibly know her? She didn't really go anywhere, and she doubted Muffet lived around these neck of the woods. Her roommate worked odd hours, so the chance of it being her was slim to none. The only other friend she knew outside of this group was Asriel, and, aside from the fact he wasn't a she, well...she shuddered at the memory of his parents. Lovely couple… She shook the last option from her mind. "Oh?" she inquired.

Papyrus nodded. "YES, SHE SAID THAT SHE WOULD BE AROUND. SHE DIDN'T GIVE ME HER NAME, BUT THAT SHE WAS A VERY CLOSE FRIEND OF YOURS! THAT HUMAN SURE WAS HAPPY THOUGH! SHE HAD THE BIGGEST SMILE! MAYBE IT IS BECAUSE SHE MADE A FRIEND OF THE GREAT PAPYRUS!"

Frisk was about to throw up. She nodded stiffly, then took note of the pair of eyes that had been watching her all night. She stumbled slightly, causing the group to hover over her. Alphys checked Frisk for any wounds, but Frisk only shrugged off the help.

"I-I'm fine! Really, Alphys, I'm okay!" She stumbled over her words, and when Frisk looked back to where those eyes were, they were gone. Her breathing quickened, and so she swallowed hard. She needed to calm down. She had time. She had time. Chara never broke her promises, good or bad.

Frisk rushed to her feet, pushing away from the four monsters and stepping unevenly.

She needed air.

"I, I, uh, think I'm gonna go h-home." She rushed to the door, but a pair of boney hands grabbed her.

"Kid, you're miles away from home. Lemme take ya home."

Frisk's heart tightened as she pulled out of his grip. The room was spinning, and she could feel the clawing suffocation of a panic attack closing in on her. She was choking in this diner. "Don't worry your pretty little skull Sans, don't need to be a burden on you."

She couldn't face him.

Images from a broken home pierced through her mind as she swallowed back the fit of black tar that bubbled to the surface. Of her parents, of Chara, of that poor monster kid, and of everything that followed her, and she tore through the door of the diner in a way to leave her memories behind.

The four monsters glanced at each other, Alphys glanced at Sans worriedly, before turning to Undyne who only scoffed.

"Well bonehead, sure messed up this time." she said in a bored way.

Sans gawked at Undyne, before shaking his head and pushing through the doorway himself.

Papyrus followed after his older brother into the chill of the night, where the beginnings of winter were floating in ahead of schedule.

 **...**

 **Why drama-train, is that you? You rascal you. Gonna be with you for a couple chapters you say? Maybe longer you say? Oh boy!**

 **Thank you for reading, and please review!**


	12. Collision

**Yay, I was actually able to get out a chapter!**

 **I hope you guys like it!**

 **Replies:**

 **MachUPB: Thank you!**

 ***temmie smile* yeah! Anyways, onto the chapter.**

 **I do not own Undertale~**

 **…**

Snow had started early in this urban neighborhood where monsters roamed freely. It had started to pick up a couple hours after Frisk had disappeared from the diner, and by the witching hour her footsteps had been completely covered. The two brothers had met up at the corner adjacent to the ritzy high rise hotel that was practically at the center of the district. Guilt was heavy on Papyrus as he looked down at Sans, who wasn't much better.

"ANY LUCK BROTHER?"

Sans only shook his head, before looking around and stepping into the center of the road. "Check the square, I'll check the park." Was all he said before disappearing into a shortcut.

Papyrus nodded to himself and was about to run into his magical current that took him to any familiar place he knew, but was stopped by a holler. "HEY BONEHEAD, HOLD UP!"

Papyrus glanced back at Undyne who was trailed by Alphys. He met them halfway. "OH, HELLO UNDYNE!" he said cheerfully. Undyne only stretched and huffed away her exhaustion.

"You dweebs travel fast. We had to hoof it a couple miles before we came across you. Ain't that right babe?...Babe?" Undyne blinked down at the yellow woman flat on her face.

"C-cramp…"

Papyrus nodded and started to run in place. "YES, US SKELTENS ARE FANTASTICALLY QUICK! I STILL CANNOT KEEP UP WITH MY BROTHER!"

Undyne stared at Papyrus, trying to figure out if he was serious or not, then snorted and nodded, pulling her arm until it ached. "Yeah, anyways, I wanna help find the punk. Feel somewhat responsible, ya know?"

He nodded, taking in the two of them. "ALRIGHT, IF YOU WISH TO HELP I AM HEADING TO THE SQUARE. COME WITH FRIENDS!" he started to jog in the correct direction, before he flashed orange and a trail of orange was left in his place.

Undyne stared, then grinned widely. Picking Alphys up she gave chase after her friend. "HOLD UP BONEHEAD!"

…

 _"_ _Mom! I'm home!" A young girl cried into a tattered home, browns and yellows glowed against the wall as light peered through the curtains. A young girl, about six or seven, closed the door behind her in her oversized blue-and-pink sweater, small fingers gripped at the straps of the backpack. Her neutral face had fear edging at the corners, and her normally narrow eyes opened to take in the silence of the home._

 _She shuffled through the living room, past the lumpy couch against the far wall and the large recliner that seemed to be falling apart. The television, normally on some sports channel at all hours of the day, was off. The beer cans and glass bottles weren't odd though, so she thought nothing of it._

 _Instead of going up the staircase like she normally would, instead of going up to her room and locking the door behind her, she wandered forward. Through the brown hallway that was poorly lit. She stood at the entrance to the kitchen, where linoleum was splattered with its usual filth, and something red. The young girl furrowed her brows, and despite the thick smell of iron in the air telling her to run out the way she came in, she pushed forward. Her small feet carried her, and only when the silhouette of a lumbering behemoth came into view did her nerves scream for her to run._

 _She was frozen though._

 _Her mouth opened widely to let out a blood curtling scream, when hands flew around her and dragged her into the pantry next to her._

 _The small girl shook and was met with a soothing voice._

 _"_ _Shhh shh it's okay honey. It's okay." an older woman hushed into the small girl's ear._

 _Tears fell from the small girl as she held tight to the older woman. "Mommy…" the girl cried, muted by the shoulder she was crying into. The older woman nodded and held the small girl close._

 _"_ _Yes Frisk, hush. We have to stay quiet. Daddy had a bad day." She whispered into the girl's ear as she ran her hand over the back of her head. Fingers trailed through brown strands._

 _Frisk nodded and sniffed, looking up and taking note of the red that clung to her mother's head._

 _She reached up to it and gasped. Still warm. Still wet._

 _Fear filled her mother's eyes as she looked down at Frisk, before she smiled. "Don't worry baby."_

 _The small girl shook, and determination filled her eyes. She could turn back time. She knew she could! She did it once, she could do it again!_

 _Her mother knew that look, and fear came back full force. "No, no no no, Frisk, no. Please, I can't…" She gripped Frisk for dear life, tears spilling from her and staining the back of Frisk's shirt._

 _Before Frisk could say anything the door to the pantry was opened, and her mother gasped, terrified._

Frisk, a much older Frisk, clamped her eyes shut. She pressed her palms against her eyes, grinding her teeth as she tried to push that memory back. She could have done something. Anything to stop that…

She screamed and kicked a large bundle of snow. Useless! She was useless, and she had the power. If only she could show her. If only she could show him! What she could do and how she could make that cruel man that was her father go away forever!

"Frisk?"

Frisk gasped and whipped around to the source of the sound. Asriel, wearing a long winter coat, just stared at her in awe and confusion.

She gripped her arms and forced a smile. Oh. It was him. It was just him. "H-hi Asriel." She forced herself to walk, to move as she felt her joints and bones scream at her. A cold front had kicked in, and she was not prepared, even with her brown sweater.

The young goat man took in her form, and noticed the blue tint that probably was not normal. Shrugging off his jacket as he made his way over to her he draped the four-sizes-too-big jacket over Frisk, who tried to protest but ended up taking it. "Frisk, what are you doing out here?"

She laughed bitterly as she pulled the jacket close around her and buried her face into it. "Oh, you know, out for a mid-night walk."

"But...you live in the human district."

She shook her head and sighed. "So I took a really long mid-night walk. It's not like it matters."

Before she could shuffle away Asriel set his hands on her shoulders, looking down at her with worry. "...Is everything alright?"

She stared up at him, and his soul tightened at her state. She looked like she hadn't been sleeping, and she was thinner than when he had seen her last. Her smile, that beautiful smile that made him so enamored with her, was replaced by a grimace. He furrowed his brows and looked up, looking around. "I'm taking you home."

Frisk paled and shook her head. "What? No, Asriel, you don't have to!"

He started to drag her along. "Yes, I do. You're going to get really sick out here, and you could end up hospitalized, or worse!"

She struggled and slipped out of the jacket he was gripping. "No! I'm fine! I'll be fine! Just leave me alone Asriel, I can handle myself!" she hugged herself close as she stared at the tall goat man before her.

He turned to her, frustrated and at his wits end. Grunting, he stared at her. "Why won't you let me help you?!"

"Because I don't need help! I DON'T NEED SAVING!" She screamed as she hunched forward, tears in her eyes as she stared at him with frayed nerves. He stared at her, huffing as well as clouds of steam puffed from their lips.

"Hmmm, that's not what I remember love." A soft lull came from behind Frisk.

Whipping around Frisk stared at the lanky figure that was barely shorter than Asriel. A shaky breath left her, and Asriel stood behind her and held a protective hand over the small human. "Frisk...who is this?" He asked, nervously, cautiously, as he stared into the red eyes of a mad woman.

…

Sans had been popping around town for hours now, the echo of her words haunted him at his core.

'You're a real piece of work if you need to be intoxicated to be around me.'

He sneered at that.

'Don't worry your pretty little skull Sans, don't need to be a burden on you.'

Burden? Burden?! Was that what she really thought? He knew he was bad, but the fact that THAT was the impression she got?

His anger grew as he popped around town. He was going to have a serious talk with her when he found her, after he gave her a piece of his mind for running off like that!

"Because I don't need help! I DON'T NEED SAVING!"

That stopped him in his tracks.

Looking over from the opening between two buildings he stared at the dark park, where there were a few lights that shined down on Frisk and that Asriel kid. His sockets lidded as he pushed away the feeling that bubbled to the surface.

Seemed he was giving her more trouble than she needed. Blue flickered in his left eye. Some goat's gonna have a bad time.

"Hmmm, that's not what I remember love." A voice from between them and him sounded, and he focused on the source. Then, as if appearing out of thin air, there it was. She? Yeah, had to be a she, because of the tone of voice and the way they held themselves. Though, her energy was masculine. Overpowering. The whites of his eyes were gone as two pits of black sat in their place.

This was probably the creep that set Frisk off, from the way she was shaking and how fear was just there on her. So unlike Frisk. Probably the creep that did that number to her shoulder too.

Whatever this...thing was up to though, it wasn't good. But, maybe he could say something to make it leave Frisk alone. Girl had enough stress in her life, and she didn't need another creep messing with her. Maybe get it to leave Pap alone too. Two birds with one stone deal.

Before he could get much closer though a metallic glint in her back pocket halted him in his tracks. Blue sweat formed as his grin twisted sinisterly. Her fingers gripped at the knife purposefully. This chick had ill intent.

…

Asriel eyed the human female in front of him and Frisk, and stepped in front of Frisk to protect her from this human. He could tell, this human, though the hair on the back of his neck stood on end at that thought, how wrong it was, was someone his friend did not like. He didn't know their history, but he would not let his friend get in harms way while he was there.

A bitter grin sat on him. His parents may not be...as good as they were in front of the world, but he would not be like them. He would make sure that people in his care were cared for. "What do you want?" He asked the stranger.

She only grinned in response as she leaned from foot to foot. "Only my girlfriend to come to her senses goat boy." she looked at Asriel with lidded eyes. Asriel heard the shudder in Frisk's breath, and the pained wheeze.

He only scoffed. "Right, and what a loving girlfriend you are." he said dryly.

The stranger only smiled sweetly. "That I am. You see, she ran off after a tiff between us. Poor girl could get lost in the cold, in a district she does not know." She stepped forward, only looking at Frisk, who cowered behind Asriel. "Let's get you home love." She cooed.

She went to reach for Frisk, when a hand smothered in fire gripped her wrist. The stranger stared as the pop of burning flesh sounded. Unnerved but still determined, Asriel stared at the woman with cold eyes. "Well, she seems to not want to go with you lady. So, how about you turn around and leave her alone. Go back to whatever hole you crawled out of."

The stranger only blinked and looked up at Asriel with lidded, unamused eyes. Unphased by the burning of her flesh, she grinned a wide wicked smile. "How about you shove your sense of nobility up your ass Asriel." Her other hand gripped the knife in the back pocket, and went to swing at the tall goat man.

It was knocked out of her grip before any damage could be done though, as a sharpened bone hit her hand. With a solid metal clank the knife slid away from her and stopped under the weight of Sans foot.

Frisk gasped and stared at the newcomer. Asriel only glanced up at the short skeleton, before wincing as the stranger punched him hard enough to throw him off balance. Once free, the stranger lunged forward at Frisk, only to be stopped by a barrier of bones. She huffed and stared at her burnt hand. "What a drag. Your friends are really annoying." She snapped at Frisk, who only stared at her in fear. A twisted grin grew on her face. "It's all worth it though, to see that look on your face, love."

"Kid, come on." The short skeleton seemed to urge, but Frisk didn't move a muscle.

…

Frisk could only stare at the woman separated from her by a row of bones. She forgot how to breathe when Chara grinned at her. Then came the hyperventilation, the hard swallows to calm herself down, and the echoes on the edges of her mind when Sans' voice tried to reach her.

Chara laughed shrilly when she noticed Frisk's full on panic attack, and she loved the fear that Frisk radiated. It sustained the twisted woman, and with her burnt limb she gripped one of the looser, smaller bones. With a sudden jerk she snapped the bone low enough for her to get out, and this caused Frisk to almost faint.

With a flash Chara was almost at Frisk, when Asriel decked the lanky woman in the side, practically burning half the woman on the spot. He turned to Frisk, who was leaning against Sans absently. Fear for his friend overwhelmed him as he watched Chara get to her feet with that same wicked grin. "Hey, bone man." Sans glanced up at Asriel. "Can you get her out of here?"

Sans glanced down at Frisk, who seemed to have gone into shock from fear, and with a blip they were gone.

Asriel stared at Chara, who just sighed and looked at Asriel in a bored way. "Hum. You scared away my pet. Shame shame Asriel, you know pets who run away get put down."

He scowled at her. "Frisk is not a pet!" he snapped, only getting a giggle from Chara. "And...and how do you know my name?!"

Chara grinned, brushing away the burnt parts of her and revealing new, pink flesh. "For me to know and you to find out." She waved lazily. "Chao." She said as she disappeared into the night, leaving a very aggravated Asriel to simmer his burning hands.

…

The two landed in a dark room, with the silhouettes of things dimly lit by a night light that was out of view. Frisk chose this time to scream and flail around as she sobbed loudly. "LEAVE ME ALONE!" she screamed, and resisted the strong grip of her companion.

"Frisk, FRISK! KID!" She finally calmed down enough to pant and stare into the twin white dots of his.

She pressed her face against her hands as she curled into herself. "Oh gods...Oh gods why was she…" She rose to her feet and started to pace the room. Sans stood and rushed to her side, grabbing her and turning her to look at him.

"Kid, what was that? Who was she?" his deep voice was strained as he stared at Frisk, who seemed to be looking for an answer that wasn't there.

Finally she seemed to come back to reality, and as she stared up at him tears fell. Her hands flew to his face and patted him, then his shoulders and then his chest. He was there. He was there and not dead as all monsters die. "She didn't…" She stiffened as she stared up at him. "We left him with her. Oh gods…" her head snapped around the room, the realization that she was in a home hitting her hard. "Where are we?" she snapped back to him. "Where did you take us?"

He examined her, his smile gone. "At my and Pap's place."

She pushed away and stumbled over herself, heading towards what she thought was the front door, only to open a closet. A curse under her breath and a loud slam. "I can't be here. She's going to show up." A string of curses under her breath as she tripped over her feet and hit the floor hard. This broke her as she sobbed loudly, in an ugly way, and Sans was at his wits end with trying to be logical about this.

In an instant he scooped her up and carried her up stairs. She tried to break free, but her sobbing and anxiety and lack of sleep did nothing to help. "No, I gotta leave." She protested, but only got a grunt in reply.

"No, you gotta sleep. You gotta stay some place safe, and apparently your place ain't doing it for ya." he somewhat snapped, before they disappeared and reappeared in his room.

As soon as she was dropped onto the bed she made a beeline for the door. Every nerve in her body was telling her to run, to leave, to get her friends out of danger and to go under the radar. Chara kept on popping up, and she always got what she wanted. Oh god, Asriel. She needed to see if he was okay, that she didn't...tears kept flowing from her as her body pushed past the exhaustion that gripped her tight.

Blue magic surrounded her, and she was forced to lay on his bed. He towered over her with his arms crossed and his eye burning cold fire. His smile was replaced by an unamused frown.

"Kid, the sooner you realize that we're safe, the better you'll be." he sighed as she struggled against the magical restraints. "You're gonna hurt yourself if you keep working yourself up like that."

"But we're not safe Sans! She'll find me, she always does! She's going to find this place, and-and" she sobbed and curled into herself.

Sans sighed and knelt down in front of her, eye level with her as he ran a hand over her head. He stroked her hair in a sign of comfort. "Kid, this place is off the grid. Even the most malicious people in the universe couldn't penetrate these walls. People don't find this place unless I want them to."

Frisk looked up at him with wide honey eyes, shimmering from exhaustion and terror. "What if Papyrus wants them over? He said he made friends with her, what if she-"

Sans shook his head and rested his forehead on hers, his blue magic humming to provide her comfort. It seemed to work since she stopped crying and seemed to become still. Except for the soft, regular breathing. "If I don't want them around they ain't coming around. I overrule Pap in this, the house knows."

Frisk nodded, gripping his hand tightly and taking comfort in her friend's words. Even if she did just find out that he was a drunkard, and he seemed to do that around her, she still trusted him. More than she probably should, but there was something about the short skeleton that put her at ease. Like he would be there no matter what. Like what had just happened. His word was gold to her.

Sans sat up and looked at her sadly. Poor girl was a wreck. She may be an adult, but...she still had a lot of things that kept her from that. The image of how she froze when confronted with that thing...he grinned. His whites were gone. If their paths crossed again, that thing was going to have a bad time. Make them relive every single sin they did.

A buzzing went off, causing Sans to fish a phone out of his jeans. Putting it to his skull he hummed. "What's up bro?"

"Have you found her brother?" Frisk noticed how small Papyrus's voice was, how normal level it sounded.

Sans grinned at Frisk and winked. "Yeah, she's fine. She's gonna be crashing here tonight."

"WHAT?!" The girl jumped slightly. Sans chuckled.

"Yeah, we had a...run in with something, so I'm letting her crash here tonight."

The titter of Alphys's voice sounded, though it was too soft for Frisk to hear. Sans gave a strange look at the phone before laughing and shaking his head.

"Nah, it's not anything like that. Can't really say either, it's all up to her to talk about it."

Frisk gave Sans a small smile as thank you, at which he nodded.

"...Doubt she's up to chatting, she kinda passed out a bit ago….Yeah, that stressful. Get some rest guys, I'll see ya in a few Paps."

A chirp from his phone signaled the end of that conversation, and he sighed deeply. He went to stand and stretch. "Need anything kiddo? Water? I know we have some tea somewhere in the cabinet. You'd like that?" he went to turn, but was stopped by her.

"Wait…" he glanced back at her, and sighed at her fear. "Please...I don't…" she bit her lower lip, clamping her eyes shut and letting out a shaky breath. "I don't want to be alone…"

Sans looked at her, and stretched a smile.

"Kiddo, you're safe. I'll even leave the door open, that way I can hear you from down stairs." he sat on the edge of the bed and rubbed her back. "You gotta trust me that you'll be safe here, okay?"

Frisk looked up at him, and let out a strained smile.

Sans smiled at her sweetly. "Ain't ever lied to ya, right?" she shook her head in reply. "That's right, so why would I lie to ya now?" he patted her head and stood, facing her and smiling at her. "Be back in a flash."

And in a snap of blue he was gone.

Frisk hummed to herself, taking the pillow into her arms and holding it close, staring out the bedroom door as lights went on downstairs. Running water and a hum of a microwave, and Frisk took deep breaths. She was fine. She was okay. She didn't have to be around that woman. She was safe here, in this house that she had never been in, with a skeleton that was her good friend. Frisk gripped her pillow as she mulled that over. Probably her best friend now that she thought of it.

He never treated her like a charity case, like someone that needed to be saved, like a lost cause. Chara flashed in her mind. Frisk cried silently, as tears rolled down her face. God, where did she go so wrong with Chara? She just wanted to save someone who seemed like they needed saving, but it really backfired on her. So badly. God…

She laughed bitterly to herself. If only she made friends of Alphys and Undyne and Papyrus and Sans in high school, or in middle school, or even in elementary, then things would have been so different. So much better. She wouldn't have this stupid drive to pass on her curse to someone else.

She stared up at the ceiling, and her logical side kicked in. Then...she wouldn't have met Professor Gaster. She wouldn't have worked so hard to get out of that situation she was born into. She wouldn't have run from her home in the states, to get away from Chara, to end up here. To find people, monsters or not, that she actually connected with and felt...happy to be around.

A clink of ceramics pulled her out of her thoughts, and she looked at Sans. His grin felt less forced as he looked at her. "Ah, good, logical Frisk kicked in." He handed her the mug as she sat against the wall and took a seat next to her. "Was afraid I'd have to be sentimental all night, it was getting exhausting." he winked at her and took a sip of his tea.

She was staring at his mug, a scowl on her face, and he snorted.

"What? What's with that face?"

Frisk stared at him, her face stained with salt streams but dry. "You...uh...you don't have any ketchup in there, do you?"

He laughed with a hand to his face, and he stared at her through one eye. "Ketchup? You serious?" he chuckled and closed both his eyes, rubbing his face. "You really think I'm that bad about it?"

He glanced at her, and his smile dropped at her solemn expression. She sipped on her tea and stared at the wall.

He scowled at her, then draped an arm over her shoulders and held his mug under her nose. "Smell." She glanced at him and then took a deep breath through the nose. "...what do you smell?" she stared at the mug, and then sighed.

"That's…"

"Not ketchup, right? Just some plain golden leaf tea. It's even got magic and stuff of that nature in it to heal those of us needing it. Ketchup can't do that."

She nodded, and then after a long pause rested her head against his shoulder. "I just...wish you didn't have to be drunk to be around me."

He scoffed and gripped her shoulder hard. The bad one, causing her to flinch and let out a small sound. "Kid, it ain't you I'm being drunk around." He set his mug between his legs and turned his attention to her. "I'm gonna tell you something I haven't told anyone else, okay? Then, after that, you're gonna drop this whole thing."

Frisk looked at him lamely, and then sighed and nodded, sitting up straight and turning her attention fully to him.

Sans rolled his skull and rolled his shoulders, then rested his hands on her shoulders and stared into her eyes. "Frisk," he stated with importance, "I get drunk because I over think things otherwise."

The human female blinked a couple times, then tilted her head.

He sighed and closed his sockets, furrowing his brows as he snapped a couple times. "Like...like when a computer has too much going on at once. It overheats, right?" he glanced at her, tired but stern. She nodded slowly. "Well, I had a really bad habit of 'overheating' in school. I would over think things too much, to the point where I would get in fights. I could think circles around anyone who thought they knew something. I didn't really have many friends growing up aside from Paps because of this. Heck, didn't even meet Alphys and Undyne until high school, and that was through Pap."

Frisk had settled in at this point, sipping on her tea and listening intently, her eyes never leaving his.

Sans shrugged. "So, when I was old enough to actually partake in the red stuff, I could actually feel myself slowing down. Not too much, but enough to where I could actually live in my own head." He closed his eyes and rested his head against the wall. "It didn't get to be too heavy until a year ago. You heard about the shootings the town over, right?" Frisk nodded solemnly. "Yeah, well, when I learned that it was aimed at monsters, and that there had been attacks on military monsters in particular, I sort of lost my shit." He sat up and stared at his hands. "I got to thinking, if my brother was in the line of fire, if anything happened to him…"

The magic in the room fluctuated. Frisk put her hand on his arm, causing him to sigh and calm himself down.

"I sort of closed myself off for a week, until I was able to hear from him. That he was fine, that his life was continuing as if nothing happened. As if monsters weren't gunned down and the community wasn't shattered." he gripped his fists a couple times. "So I doubled my intake, so that I could slow myself down to where, if I saw a human I wouldn't kill them on the spot. I needed sedation."

He eyed her as she nodded for him to continue.

"That's...that's also kind of why I drink heavily around you."

Her eyes widened, but her hand stayed where it was.

He laughed to himself and nursed his tea. "Kid...I think you're the first person I actually consider a friend, and you're a human. You know how crazy that is?" She nodded from the corner of his socket. He looked at her, and with a tired smile he continued. "I don't know what to think of you half the time. You're so damn smart, and yet you get like this. It's scary, that my friend, my human friend no less, actually made enough of an impact to gain refuge from me."

He laughed at the irony in it, how he had sworn no human would step in this house, and yet, here we are.

They considered each other for a long moment, until their mugs were empty and Sans caught the mug that fell from her hand. He grinned widely at her before going to stand.

"Get some rest kiddo, I'm crashing down stairs." he was grabbed by her, and when he turned to her she looked broken.

"I don't want to sleep alone."

Sans sighed and looked down at her. "Barking up the wrong tree kid."

She shook her head and held tighter. "We don't even have to sleep, I just don't want to be alone! Not tonight, any other night yeah, sure, but not tonight. Not after what happened, please Sans!" tears fell from her again, at which he sighed and clenched his eyes shut.

With a shrug he took up his spot on the bed next to her and held an arm open to her. "If we're gonna do this, we're gonna do this right." he looked at her through one eye, and instantly she was curled up at his side.

 **...**

 **So yeah, it sort of collided.**

 **Don't really have much to say aside from thank you for reading, please review!**


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